A new software for automated analysis of respiratory tract ciliary epithelium movement for the diagnosis of primary ciliary dyskinesia

Abstract

Primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) is a rare hereditary disease. In this ciliopathy, the disturbed structure and motility of the ciliary epithelium negatively affects the ciliary function and leads to prominent decrease or absence of mucociliary clearance. The European guidelines recommend analyzing the cilia beat frequency (СBF) in a native preparation or in ALI culture using light microscopy as one of the methods to confirm the diagnosis of PCD.The aim of this project was to create software for automated analysis of the movement/beating of the ciliary epithelium of the respiratory tract for the diagnosis of primary ciliary dyskinesia using digital high-speed video microscopy in vivo and in vitro.Methods. Five healthy donors and 10 patients with suspected PCD underwent nasal epithelial brush biopsy. The preparations were examined with a transmission electron microscope in vivo. Epithelial cells were also isolated from the nasal biopsy specimen, and ciliogenesis of these cells was performed by ALI-culturing, followed by digital high-speed video microscopy and assessment of the number of active cells and cilia beating frequency. The resulting video images were used to create the software.Results. Software for determination of ciliary epithelium beat frequency in primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD HighSpeed Video Microscopy Analysis – PCD HSVMA) was created to optimize the diagnosis of PCD by light microscopy (software registration number 2023687245). The software is designed to count the number of active cells of ciliary epithelium and CBF (Hz) by digital high-speed video microscopy in vivo and in vitro in ALI-culture. PCD HSVMA software features storage of patient data, display of heat map, formation of a large server database of patients and video files, building of color and static histograms, processing of several areas in one video. Our software has a number of advantages over CiliarMove and Cilialyzer and has high correlation of CFB (Hz) estimation with these products.Conclusion. Our software can be used for improvement of PCD diagnostics in laboratories of healthcare institutions, in scientific institutions and can be included in specialist educational programs for laboratory doctors, pediatricians, general practitioners, pulmonologists, diagnosticians (endoscopists).