1. The cell trasformation assay: Toward a statistical classification of mixed and intermediate foci images
- Author
-
Federico M. Stefanini, C. Procaccianti, Chiara Urani, Procaccianti, C, Stefanini, F, and Urani, C
- Subjects
quantitative morphology ,Focus (geometry) ,Computer science ,Carcinogenicity Tests ,Quantitative morphology ,Toxicology ,Animal Testing Alternatives ,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology ,Mice ,in vitro cell trasformation ,Image Processing, Computer-Assisted ,cluster analysi ,Animals ,Cluster Analysis ,Neoplastic transformation ,Statistical descriptors ,BIO/06 - ANATOMIA COMPARATA E CITOLOGIA ,Alternative methods ,Microscopy ,business.industry ,Pattern recognition ,General Medicine ,chemical carcinogenesi ,Medical Laboratory Technology ,Statistical classification ,Transformation (function) ,Cell Transformation, Neoplastic ,Artificial intelligence ,business - Abstract
The human carcinogenicity evaluation of chemicals has a great impact on public health. In vitro methods, such as the cell transformation assay (CTA), allow for a fast and reliable assessment of the carcinogenic potential of a chemical compound in comparison with the standard two-year bioassay. The scoring and classification of foci in selected cell lines is performed, after staining, by light microscopy. Foci can be separated into three classes: type I, which are scored as non-transformed, and types II and III that are considered to include fully transformed foci. However, in a number of cases, even an expert is uncertain about the attribution of a focus to a given class, due to its mixed or intermediate nature. Here, we suggest a simple approach to classifying mixed or intermediate foci by exploiting the quantitative information available from images, which is captured by statistical descriptors. A quantitative index is proposed, to describe the degree of dissimilarity of mixed and intermediate images to the three well-distinguished classes. more...
- Published
- 2011