A fast, robust method for quantitative assessment of collagen fibril architecture from transmission electron micrographs.
A fast, robust method for quantitative assessment of collagen fibril architecture from transmission electron micrographs.
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一种通过透射电子显微照片定量评估胶原原纤维结构的快速、稳健的方法。
DOI：
10.1101/2023.02.06.527383
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发表时间：
2023
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Humphrey,JayD
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Rego,BrunoV;Weiss,Dar;Humphrey,JayD
胶原蛋白是哺乳动物中含量最多的蛋白质；它表现出一种分层组织，并为包括血管在内的各种软组织提供结构支持。胶原原纤维的结构决定了血管的硬度和强度，其变化可导致疾病的进展。虽然透射电子显微镜（TEM）通常用于检查正常和病理条件下的胶原原纤维，但仍然缺乏能够进行快速和最小主观定量评估的计算工具。在本研究中，我们描述了一种新的半自动图像处理和统计建模管道，用于从TEM图像中分割单个胶原原纤维，并量化感兴趣的关键指标，包括原纤维横截面积和纵横比。为了验证，我们首次展示了来自三种不同小鼠模型的胸主动脉外膜胶原的说明性结果。
Collagen is the most abundant protein in mammals; it exhibits a hierarchical organization and provides structural support to a wide range of soft tissues, including blood vessels. The architecture of collagen fibrils dictates vascular stiffness and strength, and changes therein can contribute to disease progression. While transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is routinely used to examine collagen fibrils under normal and pathological conditions, computational tools that enable fast and minimally subjective quantitative assessment remain lacking. In the present study, we describe a novel semi-automated image processing and statistical modeling pipeline for segmenting individual collagen fibrils from TEM images and quantifying key metrics of interest, including fibril cross-sectional area and aspect ratio. For validation, we show first-of-their-kind illustrative results for adventitial collagen in the thoracic aorta from three different mouse models.