title: An effective and economical solution for digitizing and analyzing video recordings of the microcirculation.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assemble an economical system for analysis of microcirculation movies.
  
  
  METHODS
  Images of cremaster microvessels were recorded onto sVHS video cassettes. These recordings were digitized onto a Macintosh computer using a MiroMotion DC30 plus video compression card and Adobe Premiere software, which permits video rate (25-30 fps) capture of full-sized (768 x 576 PAL, 640 x 480 NTSC) frames. Once captured, images were analyzed using NIH Image software.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Combination of the Macintosh computer, the MiroMotion card, and Adobe Premiere allowed capture of high-resolution images at video rate, with the only limitation to sequence length being available hard-drive space. Captured movies could be directly accessed using the freely available NIH Image software. Use of built-in analysis tools and custom-written macros greatly facilitated rapid, accurate, and reproducible analysis of parameters such as blood flow velocity, leukocyte rolling velocity, and firm adhesion.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Low-priced hardware and software aimed at the home-video enthusiast can be combined with free image-analysis software to provide a powerful image-analysis solution for study of the microcirculation.
authors.affiliation: Cardiovascular Research Group, Division of Clinical Sciences (Northern General Hospital), University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK. k.norman@sheffield.ac.uk
authors.forename: K E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Norman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity; D002448:Cell Adhesion; D002465:Cell Movement; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D007962:Leukocytes; D051379:Mice; D008833:Microcirculation / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D018715:Microscopy, Video / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000098:blood supply; D012984:Software