A program for computer-assisted analysis for creeping behaviour of ciliates and similar two dimensional movement patterns

Locomotion represents quite a complex phenomenon even in very simple forms like the ciliated protozoa. To improve the efficiency and the reliability o f the already available semiautomatic program for the analysis of the track s of creeping ciliates, the Interactive Computer Assisted Track Analysis (I CATA) program was written: it has a series of advantageous features: (A) th e algorithms, specifically designed for the analysis of the tracks, ensure an extremely fast elaboration; (B) the "fitting error" of each step of the analysis is shown on the display: the operator can interact with ICATA in r eal time and choose to operate manually, if the biological meaning of the t rack is not appropriately interpreted by the automatic analysis; (C) it has been conceived as a modular program: new blocks can be added easily, (D) t he output of the analysis (i.e. a series of files), processed by the utilit ies of ICATA itself, is also ready for analysis by commercial statistical s oftware packages. Finally, ICATA, although conceived for originally analysi ng the locomotion of ciliates, has been shown to be a powerful tool also fo r the analysis of any bidimensional locomotion, from bacteria (E. coli) and metazoan cells (granulocytes) to simple metazoa (Gastrotricha).