Video image analysis of ciliary activity of human respiratory epithelium in culture

An image processing procedure was applied to five successive image sequences of outgrowth cultures from human nasal polyps. The image resulting from the subtraction of two digitized successive images in which groups of cilia are moving pinpoints the initial and final positions of the cilia. The technique allows the detection and the determination of the culture area covered with cells having moving cilia. The results indicate that this automatic and simple technique gives reproducible results and appears as a useful tool for pharmacological and ciliogenesis studies