Object recognition in the ovary: Quantification of oocytes from microscopic images

Abstract

The ovary is a female organ that houses a fixed supply of germ cells (oocytes). The absolute number of oocytes at any given stage can be a useful indicator of fertility. Obtaining accurate assessments of the oocyte reserve in humans and experimental models can be time consuming and error prone. In this paper a new approach to facilitate oocyte counting in microscope images of mouse ovaries is presented. The mouse vasa homolog (MVH), an oocyte-specific protein, was labeled in microscope sections and used to develop an algorithm that can identify, count and estimate the size and coordinates of the oocytes. We use this automated approach to generate comparable data with conventional methods of oocyte counting.