Algorithm for searching for the exact contour of cell nuclei in images of buccal epithlial cells

The article develops an algorithm for searching for the exact contour of cell nuclei in images of buccal epithelial cells stained by Giemse. The images of the cells were obtained using a Carl Zeiss Primo Star 415500-011 microscope with 1000x magnification. The algorithm is developed in Python 3.11 using the OpenCV computer vision library. The algorithm consists of two stages. The first stage involves searching for the boundaries of the cell nucleus, selecting the nucleus into a rectangular area and saving it to a separate jpg file. At the second stage, the boundaries of the cell nucleus are clarified in the saved file with the cell nucleus and a mask is applied to the image of the cell nucleus along the specified contours. Images of cell nuclei with refined contours are saved in separate jpg files. The obtained images of cell nuclei with a mask applied can be used to study the morphology of the cell nucleus, including in order to search for markers of the rate of aging. The algorithm can be used not only to obtain files with images of the cell nucleus, but can also be integrated into an algorithm for analyzing the morphology of the cell nucleus, used to search for new markers, for example, the process of age-related cell involution and the body as a whole in gerontological research.

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