STAFF

STAFF quantifies spatial and temporal variability in capillary blood flow from high-speed intravital microscopy image sequences to analyze microvascular perfusion dynamics.

Key Features:

• FIJI macro implementation: Implemented as a macro for FIJI to process microscopy image sequences.
• High-speed imaging analysis: Processes full-field, high-speed intravital microscopy (IVM) image sequences capturing capillary flow dynamics.
• Kymograph generation: Produces kymographs for each vascular segment as visual representations of motion over time.
• Velocity quantification: Calculates blood flow velocities by measuring red blood cell displacement over time within capillaries.
• Spatial mapping: Transforms velocity measurements into color-coded spatial maps showing flow dynamics across regions and timescales.
• Tabular data output: Exports quantitative tabular data for downstream statistical analysis.

Scientific Applications:

• Microvascular flow dynamics: Quantitative analysis of spatiotemporal variability in capillary blood flow.
• Liver sinusoid heterogeneity: Detection and comparison of flow velocity differences between pericentral and periportal regions in mouse livers.
• Local flow variability analysis: Assessment of variability between adjacent sinusoids and temporal fluctuations within individual vascular segments.
• Pathophysiology investigation: Identification of patterns indicative of defects in microcirculation and early indicators of related pathologies.

Methodology:

Implemented as a FIJI macro that processes high-speed intravital microscopy image sequences, generates kymographs for vascular segments, measures red blood cell displacement over time to compute velocities, converts velocities into color-coded spatial maps, exports tabular quantitative data, and analyzes entire fields of view with unbiased selection of capillary segments.