CardIAP: Calcium images analyzer web application

Abstract

AbstractMotivationIonic calcium (Ca2+) plays the role of the second messenger in eukaryotic cells associated with cellular functions of regulation of the cell cycle, such as transport, motility, gene expression, and metabolism (Permyakov and Kretsinger, 2009). The use of fluorometric techniques in isolated cells, loaded with Ca2+ sensitive fluorescent probes allows the quantitative measurement of dynamic events that occur in living, functioning cells. The Cardiomyocytes Images Analyzer Application (CardIAP) covers the need for tools to analyze and retrieve information from confocal microscopy images, in a systematic, accurate, and fast way.ResultsHere we present the CardIAP web app, an automated method for the identification of spatio-temporal patterns in a calcium fluorescence imaging sequence. Through this tool, users can analyze single or multiple Ca2+ transients from confocal line-scan images and obtain quantitative information on the dynamic response of the stimulated myocyte.Our web application also allows the user the extraction of data on calcium dynamics in downloadable tables and plots, simplifying the calculation of the alternation and discordance indices and their classification. CardIAP could assist in studying the underlying mechanisms of anomalous calcium release phenomena.Availability and implementationCardIAP is an open-source app, entirely developed in Python, which can be freely accessed and used at http://cardiap.herokuapp.com/.