Actin filament tracking based on particle filters and stretching open active contour models.

We introduce a novel algorithm for actin filament tracking and elongation measurement. Particle Filters (PF) and Stretching Open Active Contours (SOAC) work cooperatively to simplify the modeling of PF in a one-dimensional state space while naturally integrating filament body constraints to tip estimation. Our algorithm reduces the PF state spaces to one-dimensional spaces by tracking filament bodies using SOAC and probabilistically estimating tip locations along the curve length of SOACs. Experimental evaluation on TIRFM image sequences with very low SNRs demonstrates the accuracy and robustness of this approach.