Chromaffin cell calcium signal and morphology study based on multispectral images

Increasing or decreasing the internal calcium concentration can promote or prevent programmed cell death (PCD). We therefore performed a Ca2+ imaging study using Ca2+ indicator dye fura-2 and a sensitive cooled-CCD camera with a 12 bit resolution. Monochromatic beams of light with a wavelength of 345,380 nm were isolated from light emitted by a xenon lamp using a monochromator. The concentration of free calcium can be directly calculated from the ratio of two fluorescence values taken at two appropriately selected wavelength. Fluorescent light emitted from the cells was capture using a camera system. The cell morphology study is based on multispectral scanning, with smear images provided as three monochromatic images by illumination with light of 610,535 and 470 nm wavelengths. The nuclear characteristic parameters extracted from individual nuclei by system are nuclear area, nuclear diameter, nuclear density vector. The results of the restoration of images and the performance of a primitive logic for the detection of nuclei with PCD proved the usefulness of the system and the advantages of using multispectral images in the restoration and detection procedures.