Institute of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine University of Belgrade, Serbia; College of Applied Studies of Technics and Technology, Kruševac, Serbia.
Department of Biophysics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Serbia.
Comput Biol Med. 2019 Jan;104:215-219. doi: 10.1016/j.compbiomed.2018.11.022. Epub 2018 Nov 28.
Aspergillus fumigatus causes serious infections in humans, and its virulence correlates with hyphal growth, branching and formation of the filamentous mycelium. The filamentous mycelium is a complex structure inconvenient for quantity analysis. In this study, we monitored the branching of A. fumigatus filamentous mycelium in vitro at different points in time in order to assess the complexity degree and develop a dynamic model for the branching complexity.
We used fractal analysis of microscopic images (FAMI) to measure the fractal dimensions (D) of the branching complexity within 24 h of incubation.
By photographing the filamentous mycelium dynamically and processing the images, the D variation curve of A. fumigatus complexity degree was obtained. We acquired the D variation curve which contained initial exponential period and stationary period of A. fumigatus branching. Further, the obtained data of D was modeled via the logistic model (LM) to develop a dynamic model of A. fumigatus branching for the prediction of the specific growth rate of branching value (0.23 h).
Developed FAMI and LM models present a simple and non-destructive method of predicting the evolution of branching complexity of A. fumigatus. These models are useful as laboratory measurements for the prediction of hyphal and mycelium development, especially relevant to the pathogenesis study of aspergillosis, as well as pathogenesis of other diseases caused by moulds.
烟曲霉可引起人类严重感染，其毒力与菌丝生长、分支和丝状菌丝的形成有关。丝状菌丝是一种复杂的结构，不便于进行定量分析。在这项研究中，我们在不同时间点监测了体外烟曲霉丝状菌丝的分支，以评估其复杂性程度并开发分支复杂性的动态模型。
我们使用微观图像分形分析（FAMI）来测量孵育 24 小时内分支复杂性的分形维数（D）。
通过动态拍摄丝状菌丝并对图像进行处理，获得了烟曲霉复杂程度 D 的变化曲线。我们获得了包含烟曲霉分支初始指数期和稳定期的 D 变化曲线。进一步，通过逻辑模型（LM）对获得的 D 数据进行建模，开发了烟曲霉分支的动态模型，用于预测分支值的特定生长率（0.23 h）。
开发的 FAMI 和 LM 模型提供了一种简单且非破坏性的方法来预测烟曲霉分支复杂性的演变。这些模型可作为实验室测量，用于预测菌丝和菌丝体的发育，特别是与曲霉病的发病机制研究以及由霉菌引起的其他疾病的发病机制相关。
