Chrysalis: A new method for high-throughput histo-cytometry analysis of images and movies

Advances in imaging have led to the development of powerful multispectral, quantitative imaging techniques, like histo-cytometry. The utility of this approach is limited, however, by the need for time consuming manual image analysis.We therefore developed the software Chrysalis and a group of Imaris Xtensions to automate this process. The resulting automation allowed for high-throughput histo-cytometry analysis of three-dimensional confocal microscopy and two-photon time-lapse images of T cell-dendritic cell interactions in mouse spleens. It was also applied to epi-fluorescence images to quantify T cell localization within splenic tissue by using a "signal absorption" strategy that avoids computationally intensive distance measurements. In summary, this image processing and analysis software makes histo-cytometry more useful for immunology applications by automating image analysis.