IMAGE PROCESSOR, IMAGE PROCESSING METHOD, AND PROGRAM

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make it possible to quantitatively observe morphological changes of a sample.SOLUTION: A detection part 52 detects a region of an osteoclast precursor cell as a sample 18 morphology changes with the lapse of time from an observed image of the sample 18. A superimposition part 53 superposes a region of the osteoclast precursor cell on an observed image at different points of time, a computing part 54 calculates a degree of morphological changes of the osteoclast precursor cell based on an area of a superposed region of the osteoclast precursor cell, and determines whether or not the osteoclast precursor cell differentiated based on the degree of morphological changes. A processing part 55, based on a determination result whether or not the cell differentiated, displays a differentiated osteoclast precursor cell (matured osteoclast) and an undifferentiated osteoclast precursor cell on the observed image in different display formats. The present invention is applicable to an observation system using a confocal microscope.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1