AUTOMATIC QUANTITATION OF CELL COLONIES ON PETRI DISHES BY COMPUTERIZED IMAGE-ANALYSIS

Clonogenic assay is one of the most sensitive assays, widely used to e valuate the effects of antineoplastic agents in vitro. A computer prog ram was developed on an IBAS 2.0 Image Analysis System for automated q uantitation of cell colonies and clone area on Petri dishes. The sensi tivity of the clonogenic assay can be greatly increased by evaluating the mean area of the clones. The program gives an objective, accurate and fast evaluation of large samples. It is simple to use and offers a high degree of flexibility. Special algorithms and techniques have be en implemented for good quantitation of both connected and well-separa ted colonies and to reduce the background noise and the general error rate. The principles and solutions presented are applicable to any oth er image analysis system.