
==== Front
bioRxiv
BIORXIV
bioRxiv
2692-8205
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

10.1101/2024.08.18.608451
preprint
1
Article
Dispersion indices for universal quantification of fluorescently-labelled subcellular structure spatial distributions
Martin Andrew
Zhang Sue
Williamson Amanda
Tingley Brett
Pickus Mira
Zurakowski David
Nia Hadi T.
Shirihai Orian
Han Xue
Grinstaff Mark W. http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5453-3668

19 8 2024
2024.08.18.608451https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which allows reusers to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format in unadapted form only, for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator.
http://biorxiv.org/lookup/doi/10.1101/2024.08.18.608451
nihpp-2024.08.18.608451.pdf
Abstract

In biology, accurate and robust quantification of biological images is critical for understanding distribution patterns and heterogeneity of subcellular structures within a cell. While various methods tailored to specific biological contexts have been employed for image analysis, there is a need for versatile approaches that transcend the constraints imposed by the intricacies of different biological systems. Here we report the application of dispersion indices – a statistical concept widely used to measure the income distribution within a population by economists – as a powerful and agnostic tool for quantifying biological images, which offers distinct advantages over traditional methods. In our approach, we substitute pixel intensity for income and number of pixels for population. We demonstrate the utility of dispersion indices in quantifying autophagic puncta, mitochondrial clustering, and microtubule dynamics, all of which are key measures relevant for maladies ranging from metabolic and neuronal diseases to cancer. Further, we show utility in 2D cell cultures and a 3D multicellular midbrain culture as well as measurement of a performance metric such as a half maximal effective concentration value (EC50).
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