Image Analysis Program Application for Determining the Shape of Lumens of Biological Objects on the Example of Human Prostate Glands

The aim of study was to evaluate the informative value of computer-based image analysis programs for determining the shape of lumens of biological objects investigating age-related changes in the human prostate glands in various structural lobules of the organ as an example.

Material and methods. The study included 37 men aged 17-75, whose prostates were examined using the open-access program “ImageFiji”. Histological slides stained with hematoxylin and eosin, fuchselin with Hart’s modification and azocarmine according to Heidenhain were used to determine the shape of lumens of adenomeres in the anteromedial, upper medial, inferior, lower lateral lobes of the right and left halves of the prostate. The Feret diameter and “shape characteristics” were used to describe the shape of the lumens of prostate adenomeres; this including the following shape factors: roundness, roundness index, and compactness index. The obtained data were statistically processed using “Microsoft Excel’2007” and “Statistica 10” programs.

Results. The results obtained demonstrated that the shape of the lumens of adenomeres in each of the structural lobes of the prostate does not vary in the same manner with age.

Conclusion. The proposed method for the quantitative determination of changes in the shape of lumens of biological objects based on the potentials of “ImageFiji”, a computer program for analyzing images, is considered to have an informative value when evaluating these changes. The obtained results contribute to the expansion of the current scientific understanding of age-related transformations of the prostate glands and can be used both in the study of age, sex, individual structural features of human and animal structures, and at the stage of preliminary assessment of the presence of pathological changes.

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