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Step-by-step quantitative analysis of focal adhesions

Focal adhesions (FAs) are specialized adhesive structures which serve as cellular communication units between cells and the surrounding extracellular matrix. FAs are involved in signal transduction and actin cytoskeleton organization. FAs mediate cell adhesion, which is a critical phenomenon in canc...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Horzum, Utku, Ozdil, Berrin, Pesen-Okvur, Devrim
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Elsevier 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4472847/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26150935
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mex.2014.06.004
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author Horzum, Utku
Ozdil, Berrin
Pesen-Okvur, Devrim
author_facet Horzum, Utku
Ozdil, Berrin
Pesen-Okvur, Devrim
author_sort Horzum, Utku
collection PubMed
description Focal adhesions (FAs) are specialized adhesive structures which serve as cellular communication units between cells and the surrounding extracellular matrix. FAs are involved in signal transduction and actin cytoskeleton organization. FAs mediate cell adhesion, which is a critical phenomenon in cancer research. Since cells can form many and micrometer scale FAs, their quantitative analysis demands well-optimized image analysis approaches [1–3]. Here, we have optimized the analysis of FAs of MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells. The optimization is based on proper processing of immunofluorescence images of vinculin, which is one of the markers of FAs. All image processing steps are carried out using the ImageJ software, which is freely available and in the public domain. The advantages of our method are: • The analysis steps are simplified by combining different plugins of the ImageJ program. • FAs are better detected with minimal false negatives due to optimized processing of fluorescent images. • This approach can be applied to quantify a variety of fluorescent images comprising focal and/or localized signals within a high background such as FAs, one of the many complex signaling structures in a cell.
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spelling pubmed-44728472015-07-06 Step-by-step quantitative analysis of focal adhesions Horzum, Utku Ozdil, Berrin Pesen-Okvur, Devrim MethodsX Article Focal adhesions (FAs) are specialized adhesive structures which serve as cellular communication units between cells and the surrounding extracellular matrix. FAs are involved in signal transduction and actin cytoskeleton organization. FAs mediate cell adhesion, which is a critical phenomenon in cancer research. Since cells can form many and micrometer scale FAs, their quantitative analysis demands well-optimized image analysis approaches [1–3]. Here, we have optimized the analysis of FAs of MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells. The optimization is based on proper processing of immunofluorescence images of vinculin, which is one of the markers of FAs. All image processing steps are carried out using the ImageJ software, which is freely available and in the public domain. The advantages of our method are: • The analysis steps are simplified by combining different plugins of the ImageJ program. • FAs are better detected with minimal false negatives due to optimized processing of fluorescent images. • This approach can be applied to quantify a variety of fluorescent images comprising focal and/or localized signals within a high background such as FAs, one of the many complex signaling structures in a cell. Elsevier 2014-07-07 /pmc/articles/PMC4472847/ /pubmed/26150935 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mex.2014.06.004 Text en © 2014 The Authors http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Horzum, Utku
Ozdil, Berrin
Pesen-Okvur, Devrim
Step-by-step quantitative analysis of focal adhesions
title Step-by-step quantitative analysis of focal adhesions
title_full Step-by-step quantitative analysis of focal adhesions
title_fullStr Step-by-step quantitative analysis of focal adhesions
title_full_unstemmed Step-by-step quantitative analysis of focal adhesions
title_short Step-by-step quantitative analysis of focal adhesions
title_sort step-by-step quantitative analysis of focal adhesions
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4472847/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26150935
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mex.2014.06.004
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