bioimages
Print ISSN : 0919-2719
Volume 5, Issue 3
Displaying 1-4 of 4 articles from this issue
Regular Article
  • Teruo Asaeda, Makio Akimoto, Michio Miyakawa, Toshiteru Kikuta, Hideo ...
    1997 Volume 5 Issue 3 Pages 83-89
    Published: 1997
    Released on J-STAGE: November 18, 2020
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Considerable effort has been made in several medical fields to achieve objective color analysis and characterization of biological tissues. Conventional colorimeters have proved inadequate for this purpose, because they do not provide spatial color information and because the measuring procedure randomly affects the color of the tissue. This paper describes an imaging colorimeter in which the nonimaging optical photodetector of colorimeters is replaced with the charge-coupled device (CCD) sensor of a color video camera, enabling the independent capturing of the color information for any spatial point within the camera's field of view. Combining imaging and colorimetry methods, the acquired image is calibrated and corrected under several ambient light conditions, providing noncontact reproducible color measurements, free of the errors and limitations of conventional colorimeters. Skin color was evaluated individually on three cutaneous areas: forehead (exposed area), chin (semi-exposed area), and armpit (non-exposed area). The colorimeter appears to be a simple and accurate device for objectively measuring skin color. Its features highlight the potential of the imaging colorimeter as a clinical and research tool for the standardization of clinical diagnosis and for the objective evaluation of treatment effectiveness.
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  • William S. Price, Hiroyuki lde, Masaya lshikawa, Yoji Arata
    1997 Volume 5 Issue 3 Pages 91-99
    Published: 1997
    Released on J-STAGE: November 18, 2020
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    NMR micro-imaging provides a powerful tool for studying the changes in biological systems that occur upon cooling to subfreezing temperatures. Since the method is non-invasive, the changes can be followed in the one sample so that any dynamic processes that occur may be observed. In the present work the freezing behaviours (of water) in a wintering maple stem, a potato stem and pure water as a control were followed using NMR microimaging over the temperature range of 3 to −17°C. The images provide a clear indication of the highly organized and non-random nature of the freezing behaviours in wintering plant tissues (e.g., the maple stem) as well as contrasting behaviours between the images of the pure water, potato and maple stems as the temperature was decreased. The various factors that contribute to image intensity including NMR relaxation times, spectrometer performance and NMR spin populations, and how their respective contributions change with temperature are considered in detail. An in depth understanding of these processes is important for making valid interpretations and comparisons of images of plant materials taken at different temperatures (nonfreezing and subfreezing).
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  • Chikara Oshio, Eiichi Sekizuka, Haruyuki Minamitani
    1997 Volume 5 Issue 3 Pages 101-110
    Published: 1997
    Released on J-STAGE: November 18, 2020
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    In order to investigate the mechanisms of lymph flow, an algorithm has been newly developed for image processing and velocity measurement. The lymph flow of collecting lymphatics in the rat mesentery has been recorded as video images through an inverted intravital microscope. The lymph flow was rapid and its flow mode so complicated that the combination of a high-speed video cassette recorder and an image processing system was necessary. The image processing was carried out following the procedures of smoothing, median filtering with edge enhancement, lymphocyte extraction, automatic setting of the predicted flow area, and velocity measurement. Using this system, it was demonstrated that the maximum velocity of lymphocytes was 2—3 mm/s and that the velocity fluctuated forward and also backward. The results showed that our method of velocity measurement is more accurate than previous methods and that it had some other characteristics beneficial for further understanding of the lymphatic system.
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  • Sergey Yagodin, John Hoyland, William T. Mason, Tadashi Miyake, David ...
    1997 Volume 5 Issue 3 Pages 111-118
    Published: 1997
    Released on J-STAGE: November 18, 2020
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Cell lines derived from embryonic tissue of Drosophila melanogaster are used increasingly for expression and co-expression of cloned Drosophila membrane receptors and ion channels. In this study we applied CCD imaging techniques in conjunction with dyes sensitive to Ca2+ (Fura-2/AM), pH (BCECF/AM) and Cl- (MQAE, SPQ) to the following Drosophila cell lines: monoclonal Kc cells; monoclonal S2 cells; 8 clonal cell lines of nervous system origin. Resting [Ca2+]i levels in the range 20—70 nM were detected in S2 cells and in all the neural cell lines. All the cell lines failed to show [Ca2+]i responses to high K+ (50 mM). Also ineffective were the neurotransmitters/neuromodulators: dopamine (100 μM), GABA (100 μM), muscimol (10 μM), histamine (100 μM), 5-HT (100 μM), epinephrine (100 μM), octopamine (100 μM), ATP (100 μM) and acetylcholine (100 μM). S2 cells did respond to the addition in Ca2+ -free medium (1 mM EGTA) of 4—10 μM ionomycin and to 1 μM thapsigargin. Monensin (10 μM), a Na+/H+ ionophore, also resulted in a rise in [Ca2+]i. Thapsigargin (1 μM) failed to affect pHi. Depletion of an InsP3-sensitive intracellular Ca2+ store by thapsigargin (1 μM) evoked activation of endogenous, depletion-operated Ca2+ entry which was blocked by the Gd3+ (1—10 μM).
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