Method for evaluation of human induced pluripotent stem cell quality using image analysis based on the biological morphology of cells

• Published in: Journal of medical imaging (Bellingham, Wash.) Vol. 4; no. 4; p. 044003
• Main Authors: Wakui, Takashi, Matsumoto, Tsuyoshi, Matsubara, Kenta, Kawasaki, Tomoyuki, Yamaguchi, Hiroshi, Akutsu, Hidenori
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers 01.10.2017
• Subjects: Image Processing; biological features; visual inspection; induced pluripotent stem cell; machine learning; cell quality
• ISSN: 2329-4302; 2329-4310
• DOI: 10.1117/1.JMI.4.4.044003

We propose an image analysis method for quality evaluation of human pluripotent stem cells based on biologically interpretable features. It is important to maintain the undifferentiated state of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) while culturing the cells during propagation. Cell culture experts visually select good quality cells exhibiting the morphological features characteristic of undifferentiated cells. Experts have empirically determined that these features comprise prominent and abundant nucleoli, less intercellular spacing, and fewer differentiating cellular nuclei. We quantified these features based on experts' visual inspection of phase contrast images of iPSCs and found that these features are effective for evaluating iPSC quality. We then developed an iPSC quality evaluation method using an image analysis technique. The method allowed accurate classification, equivalent to visual inspection by experts, of three iPSC cell lines.