Digital correction of motion artefacts in intravital video microscopy with application in the automatic detection of leukocytes

• Grant number: 12/17772-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: October 01, 2012
• End date: December 31, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Biomedical Engineering
• Principal Investigator: Ricardo José Ferrari
• Grantee: Carlos Henrique Villa Pinto
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Exatas e de Tecnologia (CCET). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

An intravital microscopy is an important tool for the study of cellular and molecular mechanisms of leukocyte-endothelial interactions in the microcirculation of various tissues and in various inflammatory conditions. The analysis of the images, usually visually done, allows the counting and assessment of rolling and adherent to blood vessel walls leukocytes. However, visual analysis is a repetitive and time-consuming task, and depending on the inflammatory response degree, the accuracy of the measurement can be significantly affected due to the observer's visual fatigue. One of the greatest challenges in the development of automatic methods for intravital microscopy is the stabilization and removal of motion artifacts from video movements, caused mainly by the animal's breathing. Such movement leads to momentary changes in the microscope's focal plane and, consequently, generates blurring and distortions in the images. It is believed that, by stabilizing the intravital microscopy video images, the automatic tracking of leukocytes will become more robust and it will allow the assessment of the movements of these cells. Therefore, the main objective of this research is the study of deconvolution techniques applied to the restoration of intravital microscopy video images corrupted by motion artifacts.(AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

FERRARI, RICARDO J.; VILLA PINTO, CARLOS H.; GREGORIO DA SILVA, BRUNO C.; BERNARDES, DANIELLE; CARVALHO-TAVARES, JULIANA. Automatic detection of motion blur in intravital video microscopy image sequences via directional statistics of log-Gabor energy maps. MEDICAL & BIOLOGICAL ENGINEERING & COMPUTING, v. 53, n. 2, p. 151-163, FEB 2015. (12/17772-3)