Quantitative Analysis of Lymphocytes Morphology and Motion in Intravital Microscopic Images

Studying the morphology and interior movement of lymphocytes in intravital microscopic images is essential to understanding and treating various biological processes and pathological situations. A method combing features of shape, deformation, and intracellular motion for quantitatively characterizing the dynamic behavior of a single lymphocyte is proposed in this paper. The method is tested on a set of image sequences of lymphocytes obtained from the peripheral blood of mice undergoing skin transplantation using a phase contrast microscope. Experimental results coincide with the clinical observation and pathological analysis, demonstrating that the extracted cell morphology and motion features can provide new insights into the relationship between the dynamic behavior of lymphocytes and the occurrence of graft rejection.