Abstract Multimodal image registration plays a crucial role in biomedical research, enabling the integration of complementary information from different imaging techniques. We present a novel feature-based approach for multimodal image registration, alongside traditional intensity-based methods. Our method, inspired by SPP-net architecture, employs multi-level feature extraction for robust image alignment. Additionally, we perform t-SNE dimensionality reduction on the MALDI-MSI dataset to enhance feature discrimination and visualization. We evaluated both approaches using datasets from the ANHIR Grand Challenge and mass spectrometry imaging modalities (LA-ICP-MS and MALDI-MSI). The proposed feature-based method achieved comparable accuracy to optimized intensity-based approaches, with Dice Coefficients of 0.95 for ANHIR samples (e.g., COAD_05) and 0.97 for mass spectrometry data, while requiring approximately 50% less computational time. Quantitative evaluation through Mutual Information metrics and Hausdorff Distance demonstrated high registration accuracy across different tissue types and imaging modalities. These results establish our feature-based approach as an efficient alternative to traditional intensity-based methods for multimodal image registration in biomedical applications.
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LA-ICP-MS and MALDI-MS image registration for correlating nanomaterial biodistributions and their biochemical effects
Laser ablation inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) imaging and matrix assisted laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry imaging (MALDI-MSI) are complementary methods that measure distributions of elements and biomolecules in tissue sections. Quantitative correlations of the information provided by these two imaging modalities requires that the datasets be registered in the same coordinate system, allowing for pixel-by-pixel comparisons. We describe here a computational workflow written in Python that accomplishes this registration, even for adjacent tissue sections, with accuracies within ±50 μm. The value of this registration process is demonstrated by correlating images of tissue sections from mice injected with gold nanomaterial drug delivery systems. Quantitative correlations of the nanomaterial delivery vehicle, as detected by LA-ICP-MS imaging, with biochemical changes, as detected by MALDI-MSI, provide deeper insight into how nanomaterial delivery systems influence lipid biochemistry in tissues. Moreover, the registration process allows the more precise images associated with LA-ICP-MS imaging to be leveraged to achieve improved segmentation in MALDI-MS images, resulting in the identification of lipids that are most associated with different sub-organ regions in tissues.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2108044
- PAR ID:
- 10332384
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- The Analyst
- Volume:
- 146
- Issue:
- 24
- ISSN:
- 0003-2654
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 7720 to 7729
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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