Transactions on Mass-Data Analysis of Images and Signals (ISSN:1868-6451)


Volume 1 - Number 2 - September 2009 - Pages 132-146


Fully Automatic Heart Beat Rate Determination in Digital Video Recordings of Rat Embryos

M. Khalid Khan1, M. F. Nilsson2, B. R. Danielsson2 and E. Bengtsson1

1 Centre for Image Analysis, Uppsala University, Sweden
2 Department of Pharmaceutical Biosciences, Division of Toxicology, Uppsala University, Sweden


Abstract

Embryo cultures of rodents is an established technique for monitoring adverse effects of chemicals on embryonic development. The assessment involves determination of the heart rate of the embryo which is usually done visually, a technique which is tedious and error prone. We present a new method for fully automatic heart detection in digital videos of rat embryos. First it detects the heart location by using decimation free directional filter bank along with first absolute moment, and then it counts the number of heart beats for a predetermined period of time. Using this automated method many more embryos can be evaluated at reasonable cost.


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