4D Simulator Using Evolving Cellular Automata for Computer Aided Macrophage Behavior Analysis

In this paper, we propose a modified 4D macrophage simulator based on evolving cellular automata. Macrophages are well known in the biology area. Recently, we can visualize macrophages in vivo. Some observation data such as movies are available for analyzing macrophages´ behavior. The goal of our research is to find rules of behavior of macrophages. As the first step for finding rules, we have developed a simulator which is able to imitate macrophages´ behavior in four-dimensional space. In our previous research, just two short movies which were recorded behaviors of macrophages in a living mouse were available for constructing our simulator. Now, we have some more movies which are recoded more complex condition than the previous two movies. In our previous works, we have proposed an evolving 2D-cellular automata based method. Actually, macrophage observation data are multiple 2D images which are obtained by multiple depth. However, researchers desire to analyze macrophages in the 3D space with the target elapsed time. Therefore, we propose an evolving 3D-cellular automata based method in this paper. 2D cells which define neighborhoods are extended cubic cells in 3D space. Transition rules for cellular automata are defined in such cubic cells.