Monitoring in vivo mitochondrial oxygen tension (mitoPO2) enables the measurement of mitochondrial oxygen consumption (mitoVO2), providing deeper insights into the skin’s mitochondrial environment. However, current mitoVO2 analysis often relies on
...
Monitoring in vivo mitochondrial oxygen tension (mitoPO2) enables the measurement of mitochondrial oxygen consumption (mitoVO2), providing deeper insights into the skin’s mitochondrial environment. However, current mitoVO2 analysis often relies on manual identification of start and end points, which introduces substantial inter-user variability. Addressing this limitation is crucial for broader adoption, comparability, and reproducibility across research groups. Therefore, the aim of this study was to develop a neural network–based software that automatically analyzes mitoVO2. A Bi-directional Long Short-Term Memory neural network was trained on 125 mitoPO2 measurement sequences and optimized through Bayesian optimization. It identifies start points and measurement periods, then applies a modified Michaelis-Menten fit to calculate mitoVO2. This framework, embedded in automated software, was validated against the consensus of 3 raters. Bayesian optimization yielded an overall network performance of 94.2% on the test set. The neural network identified 91% of mitoVO2 start points within a ± 5-sample range of the manual consensus. Mean mitoVO2 values for the consensus and software were 6.56 and 6.63 mmHg s− 1, respectively, corresponding to a bias of -0.057 mmHg s− 1. Multiple runs of the network on the same dataset produced identical results, confirming consistency and eliminating inter-user variability. The developed neural network–based software automatically and consistently analyzes mitoVO2 measurements, substantially reducing reliance on subjective judgments. By enabling a standardized approach to mitoVO2 analysis, this tool improves data comparability and reproducibility across research settings. Future work will focus on further refining precision and extending functionality through multi-center collaborations.