Morphological Changes in Astrocytes by Self-Oxidation of Dopamine to Polydopamine and Quantification of Dopamine through Multivariate Regression Analysis of Polydopamine Images

Astrocytes, also known as astroglia, are important cells for the structural support of neurons as well as for biochemical balance in the central nervous system (CNS). In this study, the polymerization of dopamine (DA) to polydopamine (PDA) and its effect on astrocytes was investigated. The polymerization of DA, being directly proportional to the DA concentration, raises the prospect of detecting DA concentration from PDA optically using image-processing techniques. It was found here that DA, a naturally occurring neurotransmitter, significantly altered astrocyte cell number, morphology, and metabolism, compared to astrocytes in the absence of DA. Along with these effects on astrocytes, the polymerization of DA to PDA was tracked optically in the same cell culture wells. This polymerization process led to a unique methodology based on multivariate regression analysis that quantified the concentration of DA from optical images of astrocyte cell culture media. Therefore, this developed methodology, combined with conventional imaging equipment, could be used in place of high-end and expensive analytical chemistry instruments, such as spectrophotometry, mass spectrometry, and fluorescence techniques, for quantification of the concentration of DA after polymerization to PDA under in vitro and potentially in vivo conditions.