title: 3-D model of vascular network in rat skin obtained by stereo vision techniques.
abstract: The quantitative analysis of the depth of injury, penetration of therapeutic agents in tissues, and the regeneration of vascular patency after a graded degree of thermal injury requires a knowledge of the shape and spatial configuration of the vascular networks in the tissue. We have applied computational stereo vision techniques to describe the 3-D configuration of microvessels in full thickness rat skin vascular casts produced by perfusion of Yellow Microfil latex solution through the aorta. The principal concern is to describe the 3-D structure of vascular networks using a set of 3-D space curves. This representation is computed by integrating monocular and binocular processing; the 2-D curve representation of blood vessels computed through monocular analysis is integrated with disparity data to yield a space curve representation for each vessel. A connection diagram is also computed to indicate the connections existing among the computed space curve representations.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Vision Systems, University of Texas, Austin 78712-1084.
authors.forename: N H
authors.initials: NH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Aggarwal
authors.forename: A C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Bovik
authors.forename: K R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Diller
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008853:Microscopy / Q000379:methods*; D051381:Rats; D012867:Skin / Q000098:blood supply*