Abstract
Background
Calcium (Ca2+) propagates within tissues serving as an important information carrier. In particular, cilia beat frequency in oviduct cells is partially regulated by Ca2+ changes. Thus, measuring the calcium density and characterizing the traveling wave plays a key role in understanding biological phenomena. However, current methods to measure propagation velocities and other wave characteristics involve several manual or time-consuming procedures. This limits the amount of information that can be extracted, and the statistical quality of the analysis.
Results
Our work provides a framework based on image processing procedures that enables a fast, automatic and robust characterization of data from two-filter fluorescence Ca2+ experiments. We calculate the mean velocity of the wave-front, and use theoretical models to extract meaningful parameters like wave amplitude, decay rate and time of excitation.
Conclusions
Measurements done by different operators showed a high degree of reproducibility. This framework is also extended to a single filter fluorescence experiments, allowing higher sampling rates, and thus an increased accuracy in velocity measurements.
Calcium (Ca2+) propagates within tissues serving as an important information carrier. In particular, cilia beat frequency in oviduct cells is partially regulated by Ca2+ changes. Thus, measuring the calcium density and characterizing the traveling wave plays a key role in understanding biological phenomena. However, current methods to measure propagation velocities and other wave characteristics involve several manual or time-consuming procedures. This limits the amount of information that can be extracted, and the statistical quality of the analysis.
Results
Our work provides a framework based on image processing procedures that enables a fast, automatic and robust characterization of data from two-filter fluorescence Ca2+ experiments. We calculate the mean velocity of the wave-front, and use theoretical models to extract meaningful parameters like wave amplitude, decay rate and time of excitation.
Conclusions
Measurements done by different operators showed a high degree of reproducibility. This framework is also extended to a single filter fluorescence experiments, allowing higher sampling rates, and thus an increased accuracy in velocity measurements.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 162 |
| Pages (from-to) | N/A |
| Number of pages | 14 |
| Journal | BMC Bioinformatics |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue number | N/A |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 16 May 2013 |
Keywords
- Animals
- Calcium
- Calcium Signaling
- Calibration
- Cells, Cultured
- Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
- Microscopy, Fluorescence
- Rats
- Reproducibility of Results