AdipoGauge software for analysis of biological microscopic images

ABSTRACT

Obesity is a complex disease of global epidemic proportions. Adipose tissue expansion and chronic low-grade inflammation, locally and systemically, are hallmark features of obesity. Obesity is associated with several other chronic diseases, which are also characterized by inflammation. Determination of adipocyte size and macrophage content in adipose tissue is a critical step in assessing changes in this tissue with obesity. Here, we introduce a complete standalone software package, AdipoGauge, to analyse microscopic images derived from haematoxylin and eosin (H&E)-stained and immunofluorescently stained histology sections of adipose tissue. The software package is a user-friendly application that does not require a vast knowledge of computer science or costly commercial tools. AdipoGauge includes analysing tools that are capable of cell counting and colour separation. Furthermore, it can quantify the cell data in images both with and without clear boundaries around the cells. It can also remove objects from the image that are not intended for analysis, such as blood vessels or partial cells at edges of slide sections. The simple and state-of-the-art graphical user interface requires minimal time and learning.

KEYWORDS:

• Adipose Tissue
• obesity
• histology
• image Processing
• microscopic image analysis

Acknowledgments

We thank members of the Nutrition, Inflammation, and Obesity Research (NIOR) Lab, especially Dr. Mandana Pahlavani and Hanna Davis, for providing some of the images used in this paper. We thank Dr. Rakhshanda Layeequr Rahman (Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center) for providing the breast tissue histology sections and Dr. Fahmida Rasha for staining these sections.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors. 

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

The software AdipoGauge (© Moussa lab, 2020) can be provided to academic researchers by contacting the corresponding author, Dr. Hanna Moussa ([email protected]), and request the downloadable link of the software with the following expectations:

1. The person who wishes to use the software for their research work, must cite this original publication of the software.

2. The software is provided “as is”, without warranty of any kind, expressed or implied, including but not limited to the warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and noninfringement.

3. In no event shall the authors or copyright holders be liable for any claim, damages or other liability, whether in an action of contract, tort or otherwise, arising from, out of or in connection with the software or the use or other dealings in the software.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Texas Tech University.