Abstract
A new approach to the observation and analysis of dynamic structural and functionalparameters in the microcirculation is described. The new non-invasive optical system isbased on cellular nonlinear networks (CNNs), highly integrated analogue processor arrayswhose processing elements, the cells, interact directly within a finite local neighbourhood.CNNs, thanks to their parallel processing feature and spatially distributed structure, arewidely used to solve high-speed image processing and recognition problems and in thedescription and modelling of biological dynamics through the solution of timecontinuous partial differential equations (PDEs). They are therefore consideredextremely suitable for spatial–temporal dynamic characterization of fluidic phenomenaat micrometric to nanometric scales, such as blood flow in microvessels and itsinteraction with the cells of the vessel wall. A CNN universal machine (CNN-UM)structure was used to implement, via simulation and hardware (ACE16k), thealgorithms to determine the functional capillarity density (FCD) and red blood cellvelocity (RBCV) in capillaries obtained by intravital microscopy during in vivoexperiments on hamsters. The system exploits the moving particles to distinguishthe functional capillaries from the stationary background. This information isused to reconstruct a map and to calculate the velocity of the moving objects.
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