REVIEW article
Front. Cell Dev. Biol.
Sec. Morphogenesis and Patterning
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcell.2025.1572212
Evaluation of Image Analysis Tools for the Measurement of Cellular Morphology
Provisionally accepted
- 1National Measurement Laboratory at LGC, Leeds, United Kingdom
- 2National Measurement Laboratory at LGC, Teddington, United Kingdom
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Morphological cell analysis offers a means of identification and classification of key morphological measurement parameters linked to cell bioactivity and cell health and, as such, it is of great interest to academic and industrial research sectors. Widespread adoption of this approach has yet to occur, partially due to the lack of alignment in analysis methodologies and output metrics, limiting data comparability. Work within the cell metrology and wider multidisciplinary community aims to reduce data variability through the improved alignment of image acquisition and analysis methodologies. Furthermore, to improve data comparability, research has also focused on the identification of a minimal set of morphological measurands, often termed critical quality attributes (CQAs), which are traceable to standardised (SI) units of measurement. Whilst efforts in defining CQAs have progressed significantly for healthcare applications, there are still numerous measurement challenges associated with image analysis of cultured cells due, in part, to their complex heterogenous nature. This review evaluates the various automated image analysis tools developed for morphological analysis of four commonly considered cell morphological features: the nucleus, actin cytoskeleton, mitochondria, and the cell membrane. The measurement methodologies and outputs from each tool have been evaluated and coinciding outputs have been highlighted as potential CQAs.
Keywords: Morphological cell analysis, Critical quality attribute (CQA), Metrology, traceability, Standardisation
Received: 07 Feb 2025; Accepted: 18 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Bourn, Daly, Huggett, Braybrook and Rivera. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jeanne F. Rivera, National Measurement Laboratory at LGC, Leeds, United Kingdom
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.