HIGH-SPEED VIDEO IMAGING AND DIGITAL ANALYSIS OF MICROSCOPIC FEATURES IN CONTRACTING STRIATED-MUSCLE CELLS

The rapid motion of microscopic features such as the cross striations of single contracting muscle cells are difficult to capture with conventional optical microscopes, video systems, and image processing approaches. An integrated digital video imaging microscope system specifically designed to capture images from single contracting muscle cells at speeds of up to 240 Hz and to analyze images to extract features critical for the understanding of muscle contraction is described. This system consists of a brightfield microscope with immersion optics coupled to a high-speed charge-coupled device (CCD) video camera, super-VHS (S-VHS) and optical media disk video recording (OMDR) systems, and a semiautomated digital image analysis system. Components are modified to optimize spatial and temporal resolution to permit the evaluation of submicrometer features in real physiological time. This approach permits the critical evaluation of the magnitude, time course, and uniformity of contractile function throughout the volume of a single living cell with higher temporal and spatial resolutions than previously possible.