Open Access Method

Combined histomorphometric and gene-expression profiling applied to toxicology

Andres Kriete1*, Mary K Anderson2, Brad Love2, John Freund1, James J Caffrey2, M Brook Young3, Timothy J Sendera3,4, Scott R Magnuson3 and J Mark Braughler1

Author Affiliations

1 Tissue Informatics Inc., 711 Bingham Street, Suite 200, Pittsburgh, PA 15203, USA

2 InforMax - Invitrogen Life Science Software, 7305 Executive Way, Frederick, MD 21704, USA

3 Motorola Life Sciences, 4088 Commercial Avenue, Northbrook, IL 60062, USA

4 Amersham Biosciences, 3200 West Germann Rd., Chandler, AZ 7285248, USA

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Genome Biology 2003, 4:R32 doi:10.1186/gb-2003-4-5-r32

Published: 30 April 2003

Abstract

We have developed a unique methodology for the combined analysis of histomorphometric and gene-expression profiles amenable to intensive data mining and multisample comparison for a comprehensive approach to toxicology. This hybrid technology, termed extensible morphometric relational gene-expression analysis (EMeRGE), is applied in a toxicological study of time-varied vehicle- and carbon-tetrachloride (CCl4)-treated rats, and demonstrates correlations between specific genes and tissue structures that can augment interpretation of biological observations and diagnosis.