Tracing and tracking filamentous structures across scales: A systematic review

Area of Science:

• * Multidisciplinary research encompassing biology, physics, and computer science.
• * Analysis of filamentous structures across diverse spatial scales.

Background:

• * Filamentous structures are fundamental in biological systems, forming dynamic networks.
• * Understanding their properties is crucial for system-level function and dynamics.

Purpose of the Study:

• * To systematically review and categorize state-of-the-art automated methods for tracing and tracking filamentous structures.
• * To identify challenges and propose future research directions in the field.

Main Methods:

• * Comprehensive literature review of automated tracing and tracking algorithms.
• * Categorization based on mathematical approaches, assumptions, and constraints.
• * Analysis of methods for both sparse and dense filamentous networks.

Main Results:

• * Presentation of a categorized overview of current tracing and tracking methodologies.
• * Discussion of the strengths, weaknesses, and applicability of various methods.
• * Identification of key challenges in analyzing filamentous structures.

Conclusions:

• * Automated methods are essential for analyzing filamentous structures in biological imaging.
• * Further research is needed to address current limitations and enhance understanding of dynamic filamentous networks.