Use of histopathology to identify changes in marine species in response to contaminants is a long-known practice.
The suitability of histopathological biological markers in the assessment of marine environment quality is derived from its high ecological relevance, as alterations on the tissue level are often irreversible. Also, affecting the physiology of an individual could impose a potential effect on the whole population. Visual assessment, traditionally used in the scoring of histological parameters, is a tedious procedure, which requires highly trained personnel and it is often prone to bias. The advances in image acquisition and digital image analysis over the last decades has created a suitable, dynamically evolving environment for analysis of high-content histological images.
The application of digital image analysis in performing analysis of histological parameters is implemented in the evaluation of tissue from vertebrate (fish) and invertebrates (bivalves). Using c combination of open-source digital analysis softwares, specifically designed to handle whole slide images, we are developing a method for the recognition of histopathological lesion in Hematoxylin & Eosin colored slides with a current success rate of more than 97% .
We are performing a comprehensive analysis of key lesions and are working on developing scripts to analyse a selected set of lesions particularly relevant for the purpose of environmental monitoring.
Obtained results are compared with the available scores from the manual assessment, in addition QAQC aspects (using independent and blind experts) are carried out to secure high quality data.
Data regarding the fish liver tissue, the center of the metabolic activity of the organisms are of particular interest and will be prioritise.
Scientific Contributions
- Offshore Norge, The Water Column Monitoring Project, Oslo, Norway
- SETAC Europe 33rd Annual meeting, Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, Dublin, Ireland
