Quantitative Assessment of Ciliary Ultrastructure with the Use of Automatic Analysis: PCD Quant

The ciliary ultrastructure can be damaged in various situations. Such changes include primary defects found in primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) and secondary defects developing in secondary ciliary dyskinesia (SCD). PCD is a genetic disease resulting from impaired ciliary motility causing chronic disease of the respiratory tract. SCD is an acquired condition that can be caused, for example, by respiratory infection or exposure to tobacco smoke. The diagnosis of these diseases is a complex process with many diagnostic methods, including the evaluation of ciliary ultrastructure using transmission electron microscopy (the golden standard of examination). Our goal was to create a program capable of automatic quantitative analysis of the ciliary ultrastructure, determining the ratio of primary and secondary defects, as well as analysis of the mutual orientation of cilia in the ciliary border. PCD Quant, a program developed for the automatic quantitative analysis of cilia, cannot yet be used as a stand-alone method for evaluation and provides limited assistance in classifying primary and secondary defect classes and evaluating central pair angle deviations. Nevertheless, we see great potential for the future in automatic analysis of the ciliary ultrastructure.

Automated summary

The ciliary ultrastructure can be damaged in various situations, leading to genetic diseases like primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) and acquired conditions like secondary ciliary dyskinesia (SCD). The diagnosis of these diseases is complex and requires multiple methods, including evaluation of the ciliary ultrastructure. While current programs for automatic quantitative analysis of cilia have limitations, there is great potential for automatic analysis of the ciliary ultrastructure in the future.