Computer analysis of isolated cardiomyocyte contraction process via advanced image processing techniques

Isolated cardiomyocytes have been used as valid and useful model in experimental cardiology research for decades. The cell contraction function is usually measured via expensive and complex instruments which can either damage the cell or take much time for setting up. In contrary, recent development of optical microscopy and digital cameras suggests utilization of touch-less cardiomyocyte video acquisition in connection with advanced image processing techniques for evaluation of the cell contraction process. The proposed paper presents an automatic membrane detection method via computer processing of acquired video-sequences by utilization of an active contour model. Evaluation of detected cell area is used for estimation of cardiomyocyte contraction function. The method is evaluated utilizing the comparison with contraction measurement performed via atomic force microscopy technique.