Digital Image Analysis of Lymphocyte Activation

The size and shape of an individual T lymphocyte can reflect activation or functional status. Therefore, information from a visual assessment of morphology can provide important criteria for determining extrinsic factors that regulate the physiological responses of lymphocytes. The combination of video microscopy and digital imaging can detect and quantify differences in cellular morphology, and therefore, it has been exploited and developed into a reproducible, sensitive method for the direct study of lymphocyte behavior. We have used this method to quantitate human T-lymphocyte coactivation, leading to cellular blastogenesis and proliferation (1 ), the induction and kinetics of lymphocyte aggregation (2 ), and lymphocyte adhesion and the formation of pseudopodia (3 ).