A toolbox to analyze collective cell migration, proliferation and cellular organization simultaneously

Abstract

Background: Analyses of collective cell migration and orientation phenomena are needed to assess the behavior of multicellular clusters. While some tools to the authors’ knowledge none is capable to analyze collective migration, cellular orientation and proliferation in phase contrast images simultaneously. Methods: We provide a tool based to analyze phase contrast images of dense cell layers. PIV is used to calculatevelocity fields, while the structure tensor provides cellular orientation. An artificial neural network is used to identify cell division events, allowing to correlate migratory and organizational phenomena with cell density. Conclusion: The presented tool allows the simultaneous analysis of collective cell behavior from phase contrast images in terms of migration, (self-)organization and proliferation.