A cellular nonlinear network: real-time technology for the analysis of microfluidic phenomena in blood vessels

A new approach to the observation and analysis of dynamic structural and functional parameters in the microcirculation is described. The new non-invasive optical system is based on cellular nonlinear networks (CNNs), highly integrated analogue processor arrays whose processing elements, the cells, interact directly within a finite local neighbourhood. CNNs, thanks to their parallel processing feature and spatially distributed structure, are widely used to solve high-speed image processing and recognition problems and in the description and modelling of biological dynamics through the solution of time continuous partial differential equations (PDEs). They are therefore considered extremely suitable for spatial-temporal dynamic characterization of fluidic phenomena at micrometric to nanometric scales, such as blood flow in microvessels and its interaction with the cells of the vessel wall. A CNN universal machine (CNN-UM) structure was used to implement, via simulation and hardware (ACE16k), the algorithms to determine the functional capillarity density (FCD) and red blood cell velocity (RBCV) in capillaries obtained by intravital microscopy during in vivo experiments on hamsters. The system exploits the moving particles to distinguish the functional capillaries from the stationary background. This information is used to reconstruct a map and to calculate the velocity of the moving objects.