Analysis of spermatozoa movement using a video imaging technique.

The aim of this paper is to present methods for a fully computerised analysis of spermatocyte movement. The technique were designed for processing pure images of spermatozoa captured from a light microscope. The techniques described allowed for the reduction of background light inhomogeneity and for the correct detection of moving cells and involved densitometric equalization of background inhomogeneity and implementation of the dynamic threshold, adopted for the recognition of objects. The method for relating cells (found in each frame processed) to movement trajectories used heuristic rules, describing the behaviour of moving cells. This permitted samples containing high numbers of spermatocytes within the observed area to be processed with maximum accuracy.