PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Claire Smith
AU  - Jana Djakow
AU  - Petr Djakow
AU  - Alexandra Patel
AU  - Robert Hirst
AU  - Peter Andrew
AU  - Christopher O'Callaghan
TI  - ciliaFA: A free research tool for accurate, automated, high-throughput measurement of ciliary beat frequency (CBF)
DP  - 2011 Sep 01
TA  - European Respiratory Journal
PG  - p775
VI  - 38
IP  - Suppl 55
4099  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/38/Suppl_55/p775.short
4100  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/38/Suppl_55/p775.full
SO  - Eur Respir J2011 Sep 01; 38
AB  - Aim: To develop a program that allows batch processing of multiple movie (.AVI) files for measurement of CBF.Introduction: A program was developed that converts average pixel intensities within a region of interest to a waveform. The waveform is analysed by fast fourier transformation (FFT) to extract the dominant frequency. The code runs on freeware (ImageJ) coupled to Microsoft Excel. It can be used with.AVI from any source, and has been developed for research use with cilia from the respiratory, fallopian or brain epithelia.Methods: Image files of 115 ciliated epithelial cell cultures were captured using a digital high-speed video recorder. In order to capture a range of CBF measurements, the bacterial toxin, pneumolysin, was used to inhibit CBF. Mean CBF measurements made by conventional frame by frame counting of ciliary beat cycles by slow motion playback were compared with those obtained using the automated ciliaFA system.Results: The mean (sd) difference between the ciliaFA and conventional methods was -0.4 (1.6) Hz, the correlation coefficient was shown to be 0.8 and the Bland-Altman limits of agreement were -3.5 to 2.7 Hz.Conclusion: The data showed that the ciliaFA software calculated consistent CBF measurements. The advantages of this system include automated, high throughput CBF analysis; whole field and individual region of interest measurements, and elimination of selection bias.