Gray characteristic analysis of microtubules in cardiac myocytes.

Objective To quantify the images of the microtubules in fetal rat cardiac myocytes under simulated microgravity by utilizing the characteristic parameters of image gray, and to study their morphological change. Method Gray characteristic of the microtubules in fetal rat cardiac myocytes was quantified in both simulated mircogravity and control conditions by variance, skewness, and kurtosis. Result From feature analysis of 24 images, the characteristic parameters selected here were proved to be effective. Good result was obtained when discrimination between simulated microgravity group and control group was made by multivariate analysis with these parameters. The total false verdict rate even reached 16.7% when using multivariate analysis with these parameters. Conclusion The morphology of the microtubules in cardiac myocytes cytoskeleton became diffused under simulated microgravity, and the quantitative analysis of gray parameters (variance, skewness, kurtosis) described the variation satisfactorily.