Study of morphological and mechanical features of multinuclear and mononuclear SW480 cells by atomic force microscopy

• Published in: Microscopy research and technique 2018-01, Vol.81 (1), p.3-12
• Main Authors: Liu, Jinyun, Qu, Yingmin, Wang, Guoliang, Wang, Xinyue, Zhang, Wenxiao, Li, Jingmei, Wang, Zuobin, Li, Dayou, Jiang, Jinlan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antineoplastic Agents - pharmacology; atomic force microscope; Atomic force microscopy; Biomechanical Phenomena; Cancer; Cell Line, Tumor; Colon; Colon cancer; Colonic Neoplasms - drug therapy; Colonic Neoplasms - pathology; Colorectal cancer; Drug resistance; Drugs; Elastic Modulus; Fullerenes - pharmacology; Giant Cells - cytology; Giant Cells - drug effects; Giant Cells - ultrastructure; Humans; Leukocytes, Mononuclear - cytology; Leukocytes, Mononuclear - drug effects; Leukocytes, Mononuclear - ultrastructure; mechanical features; Mechanical properties; Microscopy; Microscopy, Atomic Force - methods; Modulus of elasticity; mononuclear cells; morphological features; Morphology; multinuclear cells
• ISSN: 1059-910X; 1097-0029
• DOI: 10.1002/jemt.22950

This article studies the morphological and mechanical features of multinuclear and mononuclear SW480 colon cancer cells by atomic force microscopy to understand their drug‐resistance. The SW480 cells were incubated with the fullerenol concentrations of 1 mg/ml and 2 mg/ml. Morphological and mechanical features including the height, length, width, roughness, adhesion force and Young's modulus of three multinuclear cell groups and three mononuclear cell groups were imaged and analyzed. It was observed that the features of multinuclear cancer cells and mononuclear cancer cells were significantly different after the treatment with fullerenol. The experiment results indicated that the mononuclear SW480 cells were more sensitive to fullerenol than the multinuclear SW480 cells, and the multinuclear SW480 cells exhibited a stronger drug‐resistance than the mononuclear SW480 cells. This work provides a guideline for the treatments of multinuclear and mononuclear cancer cells with drugs. Atomic force microscopy was used to study the effects of fullerenol on SW480 cells. The morphology/mechanical features of multi/mononuclear SW480 cells were studied. Multinuclear cells exhibited stronger drug‐resistance than mononuclear cells.