IMAGE-ANALYSIS - VIDEO SYSTEM ADEQUACY FOR THE ASSORTMENT OF NUCLEAR PHENOTYPES BASED ON CHROMATIN TEXTURE EVALUATION

The discrimination of nuclear phenotypes of Feulgen-stained ras-transformed and nontransformed NIH 3T3 cells previously determined by image analysis using the scanning microspectrophotometry system, was investigated with the video system. A reasonable matching of the Feulgen-DNA values obtain ed with the two methods was demonstrated. Chromatin texture evaluated on the basis of the scatter diagram relating condensed chromatin relative areas vs. an average absorption ratio could also be assessed with the video system. The video image analysis system was effective in distinguishing nuclear phenotypes which differ in chromatin supraorganization in ras-transformed as well as in nontransformed NIH 3T3 cells, in distinguishing phenotypes not visually discernible from each other (transformed vs. nontransformed cells) and in discriminating among the cell lines used.