Reliable Detection and Smart Deletion of Malassez Counting Chamber Grid in Microscopic White Light Images for Microbiological Applications

Emmanuel Denimal (1, 2) , Ambroise Marin (1, 2) , Ludovic Journaux (3, 2) , Stéphane Guyot (2) , Paul Molin (2, 2)

1 Service d’Appui à la Recherche - AgroSup Dijon
2 PAM - Procédés Alimentaires et Microbiologiques
3 Le2i - Laboratoire Electronique, Informatique et Image [UMR6306]

In biology, hemocytometers such as Malassez slides are widely used and are effective tools for counting cells manually. In a previous work, a robust algorithm was developed for grid extraction in Malassez slide images. This algorithm was evaluated on a set of 135 images and grids were accurately detected in most cases, but there remained failures for the most difficult images. In this work, we present an optimization of this algorithm that allows for 100% grid detection and a 25% improvement in grid positioning accuracy. These improvements make the algorithm fully reliable for grid detection. This optimization also allows complete erasing of the grid without altering the cells, which eases their segmentation.

Mots clés: Malassez; Fourier transform; noise filtering; homomorphic filtering; image analysis

Domaines: Traitement du signal et de l'image [eess.SP]

Emmanuel Denimal, Ambroise Marin, Ludovic Journaux, Stéphane Guyot, Paul Molin. Reliable Detection and Smart Deletion of Malassez Counting Chamber Grid in Microscopic White Light Images for Microbiological Applications. Microscopy and Microanalysis, 2015, pp.1-7. ⟨10.1017/S1431927615000665⟩. ⟨hal-01164294⟩