Selective detection and automated counting of fluorescently-labeled chrysotile asbestos using a dual-mode high-throughput microscopy (DM-HTM) method

• Published in: Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 13; no. 5; pp. 5686 - 5699
• Main Authors: Cho, Myoung-Ock, Chang, Hyo Mi, Lee, Donghee, Yu, Yeon Gyu, Han, Hwataik, Kim, Jung Kyung
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 02.05.2013; Molecular Diversity Preservation International (MDPI)
• Subjects: Asbestos; automated counting; Automation; chrysotile; DksA; dual-mode imaging; Electronic mail systems; Engineering; fluorescence; Heat resistance; high-throughput microscopy; image processing and analysis; Lung cancer; Methods; Microscopy; Proteins; reflection; Sensors
• ISSN: 1424-8220; 1424-8220
• DOI: 10.3390/s130505686

Phase contrast microscopy (PCM) is a widely used analytical method for airborne asbestos, but it is unable to distinguish asbestos from non-asbestos fibers and requires time-consuming and laborious manual counting of fibers. Previously, we developed a high-throughput microscopy (HTM) method that could greatly reduce human intervention and analysis time through automated image acquisition and counting of fibers. In this study, we designed a dual-mode HTM (DM-HTM) device for the combined reflection and fluorescence imaging of asbestos, and automated a series of built-in image processing commands of ImageJ software to test its capabilities. We used DksA, a chrysotile-adhesive protein, for selective detection of chrysotile fibers in the mixed dust-free suspension of crysotile and amosite prepared in the laboratory. We demonstrate that fluorescently-stained chrysotile and total fibers can be identified and enumerated automatically in a high-throughput manner by the DM-HTM system. Combined with more advanced software that can correctly identify overlapping and branching fibers and distinguish between fibers and elongated dust particles, the DM-HTM method should enable fully automated counting of airborne asbestos.