Shape analysis of light--micrographs of cell populations is important for cytotoxicity evaluation. This paper presents a morphological method for quantitative analysis of shape deformations of cells in contact to a biomaterial. After illumination normalization, a morphological multiscale segmentation yields separated cells. Shape deformation, and hence, toxicity of the substance under scrutiny, is quantified by means of compactness distribution and pattern spectrum of the population. Since the logarithmic image model is applicable to transmitted light, illumination normalization is achieved by removing the illumination component from the log--image by a tophat transform utilizing a large reconstruction filter. Subsequent thresholding and noise filtering yields connected binary cells, which are segmented by a marker--based, multiscale approach. For this, size--specific marker scales are generated removing noise and false markers. Each cell is now represented by an isolated marker. Conve..
