Inferring data on cilia spatiotemporal coordination through bronchial epithelium imaging.

The mucociliary function of the bronchial epithelium ensures the continuous clearance of the respiratory system. This function relies on two main elements: mucus properties and cilia beating coordination. We work on high speed optical microscopy videos of Human bronchial epithelium from ALI (Air-liquid interface) cultures. We present here a technique based on the tracking of each cilium and on the spatiotemporal analysis of the obtained trajectories. To relate each cilium to its corresponding cell, a clustering method is used. The spatiotemporal coordination can than be quantified both, inside and in-between ciliated cells. In addition the physical parameters can be mapped to observe the heterogeneity of the cilia activity and compare different pathologies.