An Image Analysis Pipeline to Quantify Emerging Cracks in Materials or Adhesion Defects in Living Tissues

Abstract

Microcracks in materials reflect their mechanical properties. The quantification of the number or orientation of such cracks is thus essential in many fields, including engineering and geology. In biology, cracks in soft tissues can reflect adhesion defects, and the analysis of their pattern can help to deduce the magnitude and orientation of tensions in organs and tissues. Here, we describe a semi-automatic method amenable to analyze cell separations occurring in the epidermis of Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings. Our protocol is applicable to any image exhibiting small cracks, and thus also adapted to the analysis of emerging cracks in animal tissues and materials.