Abstract
BackgroundCalcium (Ca2+) propagates within tissues serving as an important information carrier. In particular, cilia beat frequency in oviduct cells is partially regulated by Ca2+ changes. Thus, measuring the calcium density and characterizing the traveling wave plays a key role in understanding biological phenomena. However, current methods to measure propagation velocities and other wave characteristics involve several manual or time-consuming procedures. This limits the amount of information that can be extracted, and the statistical quality of the analysis.ResultsOur work provides a framework based on image processing procedures that enables a fast, automatic and robust characterization of data from two-filter fluorescence Ca2+ experiments. We calculate the mean velocity of the wave-front, and use theoretical models to extract meaningful parameters like wave amplitude, decay rate and time of excitation.ConclusionsMeasurements done by different operators showed a high degree of reproducibility. This framework is also extended to a single filter fluorescence experiments, allowing higher sampling rates, and thus an increased accuracy in velocity measurements.
Highlights
Calcium (Ca2+) propagates within tissues serving as an important information carrier
Mechanical stimuli of a ciliated cell can produce local changes, such as opening calcium channels of the plasmatic membrane, rising IP3 levels and releasing ATP. These signals produce an increase of calcium concentration, and a wave begins to propagate [3] along the tissue
Results and discussion we show the results for the intermediate process as well as the final outputs
Summary
Calcium (Ca2+) propagates within tissues serving as an important information carrier. Current methods to measure propagation velocities and other wave characteristics involve several manual or time-consuming procedures This limits the amount of information that can be extracted, and the statistical quality of the analysis. Ciliated cells in the oviduct play a crucial role in transportation mechanisms They carry the ovule prior to its implantation in the womb at a velocity that is proportional to the cilia beat frequency. Mechanical stimuli of a ciliated cell can produce local changes, such as opening calcium channels of the plasmatic membrane, rising IP3 levels and releasing ATP. These signals produce an increase of calcium concentration, and a wave begins to propagate [3] along the tissue. The propagation itself is regulated by several variables, including free Ca2+, and the presence of other proteins or hormones
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