Abstrakt
Laser capture microdissection (LCM) is an excellent tool using a laser beam for specific selection and harvesting of cells or cell populations from heterogeneous tissue sections prepared on special slides. The aim of our study was to apply mathematical methods for optimizing the planning of laser trajectory in LCM combining positive and negative selection criteria with adjustable size, weight, importance, and security borders.
We developed and tested software tool named CutPlanner to be used in a transparent overlay superimposed to the live camera image independently from the manufacturer of the LCM device. Once optimized, quantified and approved by the user, the resulting outline of the region of interest is directly copied to the laser beam cutting trajectory.
The software is made publicly available for non-commercial use to the scientific community and provides a versatile tool for effectively minimizing the length of the laser trajectory to obtain the selected cells without destroying surrounding cells and tissue structures. Saving all the settings allows for performing repeating tasks under similar conditions, especially in uniform and routinely performed LCM applications.