Tracking Gut Motility in Organ and Cultures

Gastrointestinal (GI) motility is a key component of digestive health, and it is complex, involving a multitude of cell types and mechanisms to drive both rhythmic and arrhythmic activity. Tracking GI motility in organ and tissue cultures across multiple temporal (seconds, minutes, hours, days) scales can provide valuable information regarding dysmotility and to evaluate treatment options. Here, the chapter describes a simple method to monitor GI motility in organotypic cultures, using a single video camera is placed perpendicularly to the surface of the tissue. A cross-correlational analysis is used to track the relative movements of tissues between subsequent frames and subsequent fitting procedures to fit finite element functions to the deformed tissue to calculate the strain fields. Additional motility index measures from the displacement information are used to further quantify the behaviors of the tissues that are maintained in organotypic culture over days. The protocols presented in this chapter can be adapted to study organotypic cultures from other organs.