Bioinformatics is the science of developing computer databases and algorithms for the purpose of speeding up and enhancing biological research. This paper will detail the application of a three-dimensional cell boundary detection algorithm to compute the volumes of osmotically dehydrated apple cells in an effort to better understand the effects of this treatment.

Osmotic dehydration is an efficient pre-treatment technique in food processing. However, the changes that occur in the food material at the cellular level have not been thoroughly understood and this has limited the full industrial application of the process. During osmotic dehydration, plant tissues when placed in hypertonic solutions undergo plasmolysis that can be directly observed under light microscopy. The usual phenomenon observed during plasmolysis is the separation of the cytoplasm from the cell wall, due to the removal of water from the protoplast (Frey-Wyssling and Muhlethaler, 1965). Although readily observed under the microscope, however, the quantitative changes that occur during the process are not easily measurable.