Abstract

Recent evidence demonstrates the ability to change cell function by altering the physical properties of electro spun scaffolds, but many studies still do not characterize electro spun fiber alignment and diameter. To aid in the reporting of these crucial properties, we demonstrate two methods of quantifying electro spun fiber alignment with one method capable of determining electro spun fiber diameter. The first method assesses fiber alignment in a scanning electron microscopy image using the Radon Transform (RT) to calculate the entropy of the fibers in the image. The RT entropy method was more sensitive than a commonly used Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) method because the RT method was able to assess smaller changes in alignment (±2°) than the FFT (±4°, p < 0.05). The second method used the RT to detect both fiber diameter and fiber alignment by recognition of fiber edges. The RT edge method was more capable of identifying electro spun fiber alignment and diameter than a manual method using ImageJ because the ImageJ results were statistically different from information contained in images with defined alignment and diameter (p < 0.05) while the RT method showed no differences. However, the RT edge method of assessing fiber diameter was limited by the magnification of the image and was only capable of detecting fibers larger than four pixels in diameter. The RT edge method was more sensitive in differentiating between fiber scaffolds of different alignment than the entropy method since the RT edge method differentiated between all fiber alignment groups (p < 0.05) while the RT entropy method was less capable at high degrees of misalignment (> ± 8°). The RT is introduced as a sensitive tool for assessing electro spun fiber alignment, but more importantly, we have demonstrated for the first time an automated method of determining electro spun fiber diameter. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York.

Department(s)

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering

Comments

National Science Foundation, Grant 1105125

Keywords and Phrases

Electrospun Fibers; Fourier Transform; Image Analysis; RT; SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy)

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

2191-1649; 2191-1630

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2025 Springer, All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Sep 2013

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