Dinámica de crecimiento celular de Beta vulgaris l. Cultivada in vitro mediante análisis digital de imágenes y de la dimensión fractal

In in vitro cell culture, the morphology of cellular aggregates is related to metabolic state and cellular viability. These aggregates display irregular shapes that change during growth. In recent years, digital image analysis (DIA) has been used to characterize irregular objects applying irregularity descriptors, such as the compactness factor. Likewise, the irregularity of an object may also be measured with the application of fractal geometry. In this study, the growth dynamics of Beta vulgaris L. (Chenopodiaceae) cells was analyzed. Changes in size and shape of cellular aggregates were measured at 24h intervals during 31 days. These measurements were made using digital images of cellular aggregates taken at intervals of 24h. DIA was later applied to obtain area, perimeter, and compactness factor. Subsequently, the fractal dimension of the aggregates was used to analyze their growth dynamics by time lag utilizing the Poincaré phase diagram. The growth dynamics of the aggregates showed two stages of cellular growth, a periodic one and a chaotic one.