A new level set model for cell image segmentation

In this paper we first determine three phases of cell images： background, cytoplasm and nucleolus according to the general physical characteristics of cell images, and then develop a variational model, based on these characteristics, to segment nucleolus and cytoplasm from their relatively complicated backgrounds. In the meantime, the preprocessing obtained information of cell images using the OTSU algorithm is used to initialize the level set function in the model, which can speed up the segmentation and present satisfactory results in cell image processing.

Photovoltaic Cell Panels Soiling Inspection Using Principal Component Thermal Image Processing

Intended for good productivity and perfect operation of the solar power grid a failure-free system is required.Therefore,thermal image processing with the thermal camera is the latest non-invasive(without manual contact)type fault identification technique which may give good precision in all aspects.The soiling issue,which is major productivity affecting factor may import from several reasons such as dust on the wind,bird mucks,etc.The efficient power production sufferers due to accumulated soil deposits reaching from 1%–7%in the county,such as India,to more than 25%in middle-east countries country,such as Dubai,Kuwait,etc.This research offers a solar panel soiling detection system built on thermal imaging which powers the inspection method and mitigates the requirement for physical panel inspection in a large solar production place.Hence,in this method,solar panels can be verified by working without disturbing production operation and it will save time and price of recognition.India ranks 3rd worldwide in the usage use age of Photovoltaic(PV)panels now and it is supported about 8.6%of the Nation’s electricity need in the year 2020.In the meantime,the installed PV production areas in India are aged 4–5 years old.Hence the need for inspection and maintenance of installed PV is growing fast day by day.As a result,this research focuses on finding the soiling hotspot exactly of the working solar panels with the help of Principal Components Thermal Analysis(PCTA)on MATLAB Environment.

Recent advances in optical techniques for dynamically probing cellular mechanobiology

Cellular mechanotransduction characterized by the transformation of mechanical stimuli into biochemical signals,represents a pivotal and complex process underpinning a multitude of cellular functionalities.This process is integral to diverse biological phenomena,including embryonic development,cell migration,tissue regeneration,and disease pathology,particularly in the context of cancer metastasis and cardiovascular diseases.Despite the profound biological and clinical significance of mechanotransduction,our understanding of this complex process remains incomplete.The recent development of advanced optical techniques enables in-situ force measurement and subcellular manipulation from the outer cell membrane to the organelles inside a cell.In this review,we delved into the current state-of-the-art techniques utilized to probe cellular mechanobiology,their principles,applications,and limitations.We mainly examined optical methodologies to quantitatively measure the mechanical properties of cells during intracellular transport,cell adhesion,and migration.We provided an introductory overview of various conventional and optical-based techniques for probing cellular mechanics.These techniques have provided into the dynamics of mechanobiology,their potential to unravel mechanistic intricacies and implications for therapeutic intervention.

Simultaneous Morphologies and Luminescence Control of NaYF_(4)∶Yb/Er Nanophosphors by Surfactants for Cancer Cell Imaging

Hydrophilic rare-earth up-conversion nanophosphors(UCNPs)with small sizes and a strong up-conversion luminescence have attracted much interest.Herein the simultaneous control of morphologies and the up-conversion luminescence intensities was reported for NaYF_(4)∶Yb/Er nanophosphors by a facile hydrothermal procedure with different surfactants.With the change of the surfactants from polyvinylpyrrolidone(PVP)to sodium citrate(CIT),edetate disodium(EDTA)or sodium dodecyl benzenesulfonate(SDBS),the morphology of NaYF_(4)∶Yb/Er nanophosphors transformed from nanoparticles with a diameter of about 70.0 nm to hexagonal nanoblocks with a thickness of about 125.0 nm and a length of about 240.0 nm,nanorods with a diameter of about 700.0 nm and a length of about 2.6μm,or nanowires with a diameter of 250.0 nm and a length of about 3.2μm.Simultaneously,their up-conversion luminescence intensity went down gradually under laser irradiation at a wavelength of 980 nm due to the increase of photobleaching.PVP-capped NaYF_(4)∶Yb/Er nanoparticles exhibited the smallest size and the strongest up-conversion luminescence intensity.Biological experiment results revealed that NaYF_(4)∶Yb/Er nanophosphors exhibited a high biocompatibility and could be used as biological labels with a perfect signal-to-noise ratio for cancer cell imaging.

Three-dimensional structure of liver vessels and spatial distribution of hepatic immune cells

As the largest internal organ of the human body,the liver has an extremely complex vascularnetwork and multiple types of immune cells.It plays an important role in blood circulation,material metabolism,and immune response.Optical imaging is an effective tool for studying finevascular structure and immunocyte distribution of the liver.Here,we provide an overview of thestructure and composition of liver vessels,the threedimensional(3D)imaging of the liver,andthe spatial distribution and immune function of various cell components of the liver.Especially,we emphasize the 3D imaging methods for visualizing fine structure in the liver.Finally,wesummarize and prospect the development of 3D imaging of liver vesels and immune cells.

Comparison of shape representation methods for dynamic cell analysis

To evaluate the performance of basic shape representation methods for the description of dynamic cellular morphology, several frequently-used shape descriptors are compared. The methods are examined by using 50 lymphocyte video clips including two kinds of lymphocyte cells. Our goal is to represent cell shape in each frame accurately, meanwhile precisely classify the two groups of cells based on the cellular morphological variations in the video clips. Experimental results illustrate that in general the region-based shape descriptors outperform the contour-based ones, since the contourbased methods are excessively sensitive and ignorant to cellular internal information. Due to their robustness to noise, the region-based shape descriptors are suitable for dynamic cell representation. Although region-based methods are more time-consuming, they analyze the entire cell area.

Automated Dynamic Cellular Analysis in Time-Lapse Microscopy

Analysis of cellular behavior is significant for studying cell cycle and detecting anti-cancer drugs. It is a very difficult task for image processing to isolate individual cells in confocal microscopic images of non-stained live cell cultures. Because these images do not have adequate textural variations. Manual cell segmentation requires massive labor and is a time consuming process. This paper describes an automated cell segmentation method for localizing the cells of Chinese hamster ovary cell culture. Several kinds of high-dimensional feature descriptors, K-means clustering method and Chan-Vese model-based level set are used to extract the cellular regions. The region extracted are used to classify phases in cell cycle. The segmentation results were experimentally assessed. As a result, the proposed method proved to be significant for cell isolation. In the evaluation experiments, we constructed a database of Chinese Hamster Ovary Cell’s microscopic images which includes various photographing environments under the guidance of a biologist.

Synthesis of Fluorescent Carbon Quantum Dots and Their Application in the Plant Cell Imaging

Carbon quantum dots(CQDs) exhibit tremendous advantages for plant growth study due to its strong fluorescence and good biocompatibility. The fluorescent CQDs were synthesized by the onestep microwave method with the raw materials of citric acid(CA) and urea(UR), and expressed a unique green fluorescence with the optimal excitation wavelength of over 400 nm through adjusting the doping of N elements. It is demonstrated that CQDs can act as deliver media in plant and fluorescent probes for plant cell imaging through directly cultivated in the seedlings of melon and wheat, respectively. Based on the effects of the fluorescent CQDs on plants growth, we can further study the mechanisms of the ions transport in plants.

Tracking of iron-labeled human neural stem cells by magnetic resonance imaging in cell replacement therapy for Parkinson＇s disease

Human neural stem cells（h NSCs） derived from the ventral mesencephalon are powerful research tools and candidates for cell therapies in Parkinson＇s disease. However, their clinical translation has not been fully realized due, in part, to the limited ability to track stem cell regional localization and survival over long periods of time after in vivo transplantation. Magnetic resonance imaging provides an excellent non-invasive method to study the fate of transplanted cells in vivo. For magnetic resonance imaging cell tracking, cells need to be labeled with a contrast agent, such as magnetic nanoparticles, at a concentration high enough to be easily detected by magnetic resonance imaging. Grafting of human neural stem cells labeled with magnetic nanoparticles allows cell tracking by magnetic resonance imaging without impairment of cell survival, proliferation, self-renewal, and multipotency. However, the results reviewed here suggest that in long term grafting, activated microglia and macrophages could contribute to magnetic resonance imaging signal by engulfing dead labeled cells or iron nanoparticles dispersed freely in the brain parenchyma over time.

In vivo bioluminescence imaging of hyperglycemia exacerbating stem cells on choroidal neovascularization in mice

AIM： To investigate the influence of hyperglycemia on the severity of choroidal neovascularization（CNV）,especially the involvement of bone marrow-derived cells（BMCs） and underlying mechanisms.·METHODS： BMCs from firefly luciferase（Fluc）/green fluorescent protein（GFP） double transgenic mice were transplanted into C57BL/6J wide-type mice. The recipient mice were injected intraperitoneally with streptozotocin（STZ） daily for 5 consecutive days to induce diabetes mellitus（DM）, followed by CNV laser photocoagulation.The BMCs recruitment in CNV exposed to hyperglycemia was firstly examined in Fluc/GFP chimeric mice by in vivo optical bioluminescence imaging（BLI） and in vitro Fluc assays. The CNV severity was evaluated by H＆E staining and choroidal flatmount. The expression of vascular endothelial growth factor（VEGF） and stromal cell derived factor-1（SDF-1） was detected by Western blot.·RESULTS： BLI showed that the BMCs exerted dynamic effects in CNV model in Fluc/GFP chimeric mice exposed to hyperglycemia. The signal intensity of transplanted Fluc＋GFP＋BMCs in the DM chimeric mice was significantly higher than that in the control chimeric mice with CNV induction at days 5, 7, 14 and 21（121861.67 ±9948.81 vs 144998.33 ±13787.13 photons/second/cm2/sr for control and DM mice, P5d〈0.05; 178791.67±30350.8 vs240166.67 ±22605.3, P7d〈0.05; 124176.67 ±16253.52 vs196376.67 ±18556.79, P14d〈0.05; 97951.60 ±10343.09 vs119510.00 ±14383.76, P21d〈0.05）, which was consistent with in vitro Fluc assay at day 7 [relative light units of Fluc（RLU1）], 215.00±52.05 vs 707.33±88.65, P 〈0.05; RLU1/relative light units of renilla luciferase（RLU2）, 0.90 ±0.17 vs 1.83 ±0.17, P 〈0.05]. The CNVs in the DM mice were wider than those in the control group at days 5, 7, 14 and21（147.83±17.36 vs 220.33±20.17 μm, P5d〈0.05; 212.17 ±24.63 vs 326.83 ±19.49, P7d〈0.05; 163.17 ±18.24 vs265.17 ±20.55, P14d〈0.05; 132.00 ±10.88 vs 205.33 ±12.98,P21d〈0.05）. The average area of CNV in the DM group was larger at 7d（20688.67±3644.96 vs 32218.00±4132.69 μm2,P 〈0.05）. The expression of VEGF and SDF-1 was enhanced in the DM mice.·CONCLUSION： Hyperglycemia promots the vasculo-genesis of CNV, especially the contribution of BMCs,which might be triggered by VEGF and SDF-1 production.

Fluorescent intracellular imaging of reactive oxygen species and pH levels moderated by a hydrogenase mimic in living cells

The catalytic generation of H_(2) in living cells provides a method for antioxidant therapy.In this study,an[FeFe]-hydrogenase mimic[Ru+Fe_(2)S_(2)@F127(80)]was synthesized by self-assembling polymeric pluronic F-127,catalytic[Fe_(2)S_(2)]sites,and photosensitizer Ru(bpy)_(3)^(2+).Under blue light irradiation,hydrated protons were photochemically reduced to H2,which increased the local pH in living cells(HeLa cells).The generated H2 was subsequently used as an antioxidant to decrease reactive oxygen species(ROS)levels in living cells(HEK 293T,HepG2,MCF-7,and HeLa cells).Our findings revealed that the proliferation of HEK 293T cells increased by a factor of about six times,relative to that of other cells(HepG2,MCF-7,and HeLa cells).Intracellular ROS and pH levels were then monitored using fluorescent cell imaging.Our study showed that cell imaging can be used to evaluate the ability of Ru t Fe2S2@F127 to eliminate oxidative stress and prevent ROS-related diseases.

Fluorine-doped carbon quantum dots with deep-red emission for hypochlorite determination and cancer cell imaging

As a type of new carbon-based nanomaterials,carbon dots(CDs)possess exceptional optical properties,making them highly desirable for use in fluorescent sensors.However,the CDs with deep-red(DR)or near-infrared(NIR)emission have rarely been reported.In this work,we prepared deep-red emissive fluorine-doped carbon quantum dots(F-CDs)by introducing a precursor simultaneously containing fluorine and amidogen.The synergistic effect of nitrogen doping and D-π-A pattern production contributed to the maximum emission of F-CDs at 636 nm with an absolute quantum yield of 36.00%±0.68%.Moreover,we designed an F-CDs-based fluorescence assay to determine the content of hypochlorite(ClO^(-)),with a limit of detection(LOD)as low as 15.4 nmol/L,indicating the high sensitivity of F-CDs to ClO^(-).In real samples,the F-CDs-based fluorescent sensor exhibited excellent sensitivity and selectivity in the detection of ClO^(-),with an error below 2%,suggesting their great potential in daily life.In cancer cell imaging,the F-CDs not only demonstrated high sensitivity to ClO^(-)but also exhibited excellent mitochondria targeting,as evidenced by the high Pearson's correlation coefficient(PCC)of 0.93 in colocalization analysis.The work presented here suggests the great potential of replacing commercial dyes with F-CDs for highly specific mitochondria labeling and cell imaging.

Dynamic Measurement of Intracellular pH Based on Bioluminescent Bacteria

Intracellular pH(pHi)is a fundamental indicator of cellular physiological state,regulating cellular state and function,and has important research values.Although various probes for measuring intracellular pH were available,it is challenging to reflect pHi in real-time and reversible manners.Herein,we developed a whole-cell bioluminescent(BL)probe based on wild type BL bacteria,photobacterium phosphoreum(P.phosphoreum),to determine and image pHi.The dependence of BL intensity of P.phosphoreum on pH values of culture solutions was established.It was found that BL intensity could respond to the change of pH values rapidly and reversibly.We further revealed that P.phosphoreum maintained pH homeostasis in the extracellular pH(pHe)within the range of 5.0–7.0,while intracellular pH homeostasis was destroyed at the alkaline pHe.This method opens up the enormous potential of BL bacteria as an alternative to fluorescence for monitoring and imaging pHi.

Multiplexed stimulated emission depletion nanoscopy(mSTED)for 5-color live-cell long-term imaging of organelle interactome

Stimulated emission depletion microscopy(STED)holds great potential in biological science applications,especially in studying nanoscale subcellular structures.However,multi-color STED imaging in live-cell remains challenging due to the limited excitation wavelengths and large amount of laser radiation.Here,we develop a multiplexed live-cell STED method to observe more structures simultaneously with limited photo-bleaching and photo-cytotoxicity.By separating live-cell fluorescent probes with similar spectral properties using phasor analysis,our method enables five-color live-cell STED imaging and reveals long-term interactions between different subcellular structures.The results here provide an avenue for understanding the complex and delicate interactome of subcellular structures in live-cell.

New Opportunities for Lanthanide Luminescence

Trivalent lanthanide ions display fascinating optical properties. The discovery of the corresponding elements and their first industrial uses were intimately linked to their optical properties. This relationship has been kept alive until today when many high-technology applications of lanthanide-containing materials such as energy-saving lighting devices, displays, optical fibers and amplifiers, lasers, responsive luminescent stains for biomedical analyses and in cellulo sensing and imaging, heavily rely on the brilliant and pure-color emission of lanthanide ions. In this review we first outlined the basics of lanthanide luminescence with emphasis on f-f transitions, the sensitization mechanisms, and the assessment of the luminescence efficiency of lanthanide-containing emissive molecular edifices. Emphasis was then put on two fast developing aspects of lanthanide luminescence： materials for telecommunications and light emitting diodes, and biomedical imaging and sensing. Recent advances in NIR-emitting materials for plastic amplifiers and waveguides were described, together with the main solutions brought by researchers to minimize non-radiative deactivation of excited states. The demonstration in 1999 that erbium tris（8-hydroxyquinolinate） displayed a bright green emission suitable for organic light emitting diodes （OLEDs） was followed by realizing that in OLEDs, 25% of the excitation energy leads to singlet states and 75% to triplet states. Since lanthanide ions are good triplet quenchers, they now also play a key role in the development of these lighting devices. Luminescence analyses of biological molecules are among the most sensitive analytical techniques known. The long lifetime of the lanthanide excited states allows time-resolved spectroscopy to be used, suppressing the sample autofluorescence and reaching very low detection limits. Not only visible lanthanide sensors are now ubiquitously provided in medical diagnosis and in cell imaging, but the feasibility of using NIR emission of ions such as YbⅢ is now being tested because of deeper penetration in biological tissues.

Long-term and non-invasive in vivo tracking of DiD dye-labeled human hepatic progenitors in chronic liver disease models

BACKGROUND Chronic liver diseases(CLD)are the major public health burden due to the continuous increasing rate of global morbidity and mortality.The inherent limitations of organ transplantation have led to the development of stem cell-based therapy as a supportive and promising therapeutic option.However,identifying the fate of transplanted cells in vivo represents a crucial obstacle.AIM To evaluate the potential applicability of DiD dye as a cell labeling agent for longterm,and non-invasive in vivo tracking of transplanted cells in the liver.METHODS Magnetically sorted,epithelial cell adhesion molecule positive(1×106 cells/mL)fetal hepatic progenitor cells were labeled with DiD dye and transplanted into the livers of CLD-severe combined immunodeficiency(SCID)mice.Near-infrared(NIR)imaging was performed for in vivo tracking of the DiD-labeled transplanted cells along with colocalization of hepatic markers for up to 80 d.The existence of human cells within mouse livers was identified using Alu polymerase chain reaction and sequencing.RESULTS NIR fluorescence imaging of CLD-SCID mice showed a positive fluorescence signal of DiD at days 7,15,30,45,60,and 80 post-transplantation.Furthermore,positive staining of cytokeratin,c-Met,and albumin colocalizing with DiD fluorescence clearly demonstrated that the fluorescent signal of hepatic markers emerged from the DiD-labeled transplanted cells.Recovery of liver function was also observed with serum levels of glutamic-oxaloacetic transaminase,glutamate-pyruvate transaminase,and bilirubin.The detection of human-specific Alu sequence from the transplanted mouse livers provided evidence for the survival of transplanted cells at day 80.CONCLUSION DiD-labeling is promising for long-term and non-invasive in vivo cell tracking,and understanding the regenerative mechanisms incurred by the transplanted cells.

Cloning and Functional Analysis of Porcine Cycling A

Cyclin A is a key regulator of the cell cycle. Its expression may become disrupted in virusinfected cells, leading to deregulation of the cell cycle and increased cell proliferation. Here, we cloned the porcine cyclin A gene and verified its functionality in swine umbilicus vein endothelial cells （SUVEC）. The human cyclin A gene was used to probe databases to clone the pig cyclin A gene electronically. The identified porcine cDNA contained an open reading frame of 1,299 bp, encoding 432 amino acids, the same length as the human cyclin A protein. The porcine cyclin A gene comprises eight exons on chromosome 8. The sequence of the in silico clone and expression of this novel gene were confirmed in SUVEC by reverse transcription PCR. Western blotting of cell lysates from SUVEC transfected with a cyclin A enhanced green fluorescent protein （EGFP） fusion construct revealed a band at approximately 40 kDa. Confocal microscopy of CycA-EGFP-expressing cells showed that the fusion protein was expressed in the nucleus. Flow cytometry demonstrated that more stably expressing SUVEC-CycA-EGFP were in G1 phase （15% to 20% increase） and fewer were in S phase （18% decrease） compared with control ceils. MTS assays showed that the proliferative activity of SUVEC-Cy- cAG-EGFP was significantly higher than that of the control cells. In conclusion, we have cloned the pig cyclin A gene and demonstrated that its biological function is consistent with cyclin A in other mammali- an species. This provides a foundation for future research on the impact of virus infection on cyclin A.

Novel Bis-β-diketone-type Ligand and Its Copper and Zinc Complexes for Two-photon Biological Imaging

A curcumin derivative ligand,1,7-bis（3-methoxyl-4-oxyethylacetate）phenyl-1,6-heptadiene-3,5-diketone（diethyl acetatecurcumin,abbreviated as HL）,and its Cu（II） and Zn（II） complexes have been synthesized and characterized by elemental analyses,infrared（IR）,1H NMR and molar conductivity.The experimental results show that the resulting complexes bear strong two-photon excited fluorescence（TPEF） in N,N-dimethyformamide solvent,which has been proven to be potentially useful for two-photon microscopy imaging in living cells.In addition,cytotoxicity tests show that the low-micromolar concentrations of metal-ligand complex（ML2） did not cause significant reduction in cell viability over a period of,at least,24 h and should be safe for further biological studies.

Preparation of Fluorescent Carbon Dots from Chinese Herbal Medicine Alisma and Its Potential Applications in Photocatalytic Degradation of Malachite Green and Cell Imaging

Natural plants and Chinese herbal medicines are valuable resources.It is one of the new tasks for medical workers to study the new application fields of these resources.In this work,one kind of traditional Chinese herbal plant,Alisma,was chosen as a carbon source to synthesize the carbon dots(CDs).This kind of CDs has an amorphous carbon structure and shows strong stability to time,temperature,and ion strength.The results show that the degradation efficiency of malachite green dye can reach 100%in 4.5 h without illumination,and the degradation efficiency is better than that in dark environment.In addition,the CDs have also been successfully applied to HeLa cell imaging.Simple synthesis method,stable properties,good photodegradation and bioimaging applications make this material of great application value.