Automated analysis of differential interference contrast microscopy images of the foveal cone mosaic

An algorithm is presented for processing and analysis of differential interference contrast (DIC) microscopy images of the fovea to study the cone mosaic. The algorithm automatically locates the cones and their boundaries in such images and is assessed by comparison with results from manual analysis. Additional algorithms are presented that analyze the cone positions to extract information on cone neighbor relationships as well as the short-range order and domain structure of the mosaic. The methods are applied to DIC images of the human fovea. (C) 2008 Optical Society of America.