Objective detection of apoptosis in rat renal tissue sections using light microscopy and free image analysis software with subsequent machine learning: Detection of apoptosis in renal tissue.

OBJECTIVE: The current study proposes an automated machine learning approach for the quantification of cells in cell death pathways according to DNA fragmentation.

METHODS: A total of 17 images of kidney histological slide samples from male Wistar rats were used. The slides were photographed using an Axio Zeiss Vert.A1 microscope with a 40x objective lens coupled with an Axio Cam MRC Zeiss camera and Zen 2012 software. The images were analyzed using CellProfiler (version 2.1.1) and CellProfiler Analyst open-source software.

RESULTS: Out of the 10,378 objects, 4970 (47,9%) were identified as TUNEL positive, and 5408 (52,1%) were identified as TUNEL negative. On average, the sensitivity and specificity values of the machine learning approach were 0.80 and 0.77, respectively.

CONCLUSION: Image cytometry provides a quantitative analytical alternative to the more traditional qualitative methods more commonly used in studies.