AngioIQ: A Novel Automated Analysis Approach for Angiogenesis Image Quantification

Angiogenesis, a rigorously regulated process by which new blood vessels are formed, occurs under both physiological and pathological conditions, especially under tumor development. How to accurately quantify vessels in experimental models from angiogenesis assay is of great importance for assessing the angiogenic activity of drugs or chemical compounds. Currently, objective quantification of new vascular growth in chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assay, a popular in vivo angiogenesis assay, has been conducted by some available tools, for example, AngioQuant. However, these tools have some disadvantages, such as long running time and failure of image submission when using web-based tools. To achieve more accurate and faster quantification for angiogenesis in the CAM images, we present an optimal algorithm for angiogenesis image quantification, termed as AngioIQ, and develop a novel automated localization software with friendly graphic user interface. Experimental results obtained in our work demonstrate that AngioIQ offers comparable quantification results with a higher running speed than AngioQuant.