Tracking deforming aortas in two-photon autofluorescence images and its application on quantitative evaluation of aorta-related drugs.

This paper describes a novel approach to an objective measurement of aorta samples of rats and a quantitative evaluation of aorta-related drugs. Two-photon fluorescence microscopy is used for recording image sequences of deforming aorta. Time sequence snake models are used to track the structural deformations of aorta walls caused by drug stimulation of the elastic lamina in the aorta. Several objective and quantitative biomarkers extracted from these models are used as diagnostic indicators. In a preliminary study, the technique was successfully used for evaluating the effect of a newly developed drug-human erythrocyte-derived depressing factor quantitatively and objectively.