The aim of this project was to develop a system using the methods and techniques of computerised image processing and analysis in order to quantitatively describe patterns of movement in smooth muscle. The algorithms developed have been applied to the investigation of the co-ordination of motility of rabbit colon in vitro. The MAGISCAN 2 image processor used in this project is designed to analyse single still photographic images from a television camera. In the analysis of movement it is essential to process sequences of images with respect to time. These must be captured at a rate much faster than the period of the movements being investigated. To define precisely complex movements such as gut peristalsis large data sets must be used. Typically this requires the processing of several thousand photographs, the photographs being taken at a rate of three frames/sec over a period of half an hour. The most efficient way to achieve this is to capture, fully analyse and store the derived parameters of each image before the next image is captured. Software was developed, in PASCAL and machine code, which gave sufficient sensitivity and speed to the MAGISCAN that measurement of the changes in position of the edges of the tissue and of transverse bands marked across the tissue, was possible under experimental conditions. These bands were marked on the tissue using a vital dye. The programs were designed to measure these two movements accurately even if the quality of the image varied. Although the processing of each image reduces the amount of data that needed to be stored to a few numbers, the amount of data produced from a sequence of images is still immense and some form of synopsis is required. Summaries in the form of graphs of length and width changes were produced. Further analysis was provided by transferring the data from the MAGISCAN to a mainframe computer for univariate and bivariate spectral analysis. Initial findings indicate that length and width changes in isolated rabbit colon could be measured accurately. These changes sometimes occurred at different frequencies within the same preparation. In preparations where the two changes occured at the same frequency there was no preferred phase difference
