ABSTRACT
Computational cellular image analysis routines are methods that quantify objects, distances, concentrations, velocities of cells, and subcellular structures. In traction force microscopy (TFM) technique, cells are cultured on flexible polymer substrates in which nanoscale fluorescent beads have been embedded as fiduciary markers. Many microscopic technologies provide vast cytoarchitectural information that needs to be quantitatively analyzed through computational image processing tools in order to extract fruitful information. Some of the major image analysis techniques include visualization, tracking, and statistical analysis. The image processing toolboxes in MATLAB and custom-built software or scripts can be used to quantify the static and dynamic images in order to quantify the structural dynamics within the living cell. This chapter describes important architectural structures in the cell, experimental approaches to studying cell mechanics, and the image analysis routines, which are employed to analyze the data from these experiments. It provides examples of computational algorithms and post-processing techniques to understand the dynamical behavior of living cells.
