Quantitative Processing And Statistical Analysis Of3D-FISH Images

The organization of intranuclear chromosomes is related to chromosome density,transcriptional activity and nucleus function, and important to study pathogenesis ofcancer and genetic disease.3D-FISH technology is an important method to researchintranuclear chromosome organization. Combined3D-FISH with confocal laserscanning microscope, three-dimensional fluorescence image of chromosome territoriesinside cells is obtained. By carrying out low-, mid-and high-level image processes, wecan achieve images’ quantification, and furthermore we can conduct scientific statisticalanalysis and at last get the regularity of intranuclear chromosome organization. Thisarticle briefly describes3D-FISH and fluorescence microscopy imaging technology, andfocus on three-dimensional images’ quantitative processing and statistical analysis. Twocases are studied---organization of chromosome21and14in translocation trisomy21cells, organization of chromosome8and21in acute myeloblastic leukemia (M2b)cells.In this articleI point out the difficulty in three-dimensional imageprocessing---region segmentation, and try to program in Matlabenvironment intendedfor3D images’ automatic segmentation, which makes this difficulty solved preliminary.