Quantitative Measurements of Intestinal Ecology by Digital Image Analysed Microscopy

The study of the intestinal microflora, and in particular the flora dynamics, has been hampered seriously by the difficulties encountered when culturing the bacteria. Even when extreme care is taken, only some 40-50 % of the bacteria counted by microscopic techniques can actually be cultured. Besides these difficulties, culturing of bacteria is time-consuming and expensive. Digital image analysed microscopy, especially combined with fluorescence techniques, has much to offer in this respect. It allows measurement of many flora parameters without the need for culturing. Several applications have been developed in Groningen, initially just to perform automated counting and morphometric analysis, later adding fluorometric analysis as well, including immunofluorescence measurements and more recently fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). In this paper we will review the progress made in the microbiological image processing programme in Groningen