COMPUTER-ASSISTED ANALYSIS OF LEUKOCYTE RHEOLOGICAL BEHAVIOR IN MICROVASCULATURE

A new approach called Time-Space Scheme has been recommended for measu ring the velocity of moving blood cells in the microvasculature. In ea ch sampling time, the data are Put into a row, then rows are integrate d in sequential times as sequetial rows. The motion of various objects in the field of microcirculation can be analyzed from the time-space image. In the time-space image RBC's flow appears as a diagonal dark s tripe and WBC's flow as a bright stripe. The slope at different points on those stripes reflects the local velocity of RBCs and WBCs. Using the time-space image analyzing method, the velocities of erythrocyte a nd leukocyte in microcirculation are measured simultaneously by a self -designed interactive image processing system. According to characteri stic of leukocyte flowing movement, leukocytes in microvasculature are divided into the three kinds: central axial-flowing leukocyte, rollin g leukocyte and adhesive leukocyte. On this basis, we introduce the le ukocyte-endothelium contact time as a quantitative index for leukocyte -endothelium interaction. During hemorrhagic shock, the phenomenon of leukocyte-endothelium adhesion has been observed by this system, which suggests that the method is effective and useful for the research of microcirculation.