Stiffness Tomography by Atomic Force Microscopy

The atomic force microscope is a convenient tool to probe living samples at the nanometric scale. Among its numerous capabilities, the instrument can be operated as a nano-indenter to gather information about the mechanical properties of the sample. In this operating mode, the deformation of the can...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Biophysical journal 2009-07, Vol.97 (2), p.674-677
Main Authors: Roduit, Charles, Sekatski, Serguei, Dietler, Giovanni, Catsicas, Stefan, Lafont, Frank, Kasas, Sandor
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Atomic force microscopes
Biomechanical Phenomena
Biophysics
Cell Line
Cell Survival
Cells
Cytoskeleton - chemistry
Cytoskeleton - metabolism
Elastic Modulus
Elasticity
Estimates
Fittings
Humans
Indentation
Mathematical models
Microscopes
Microscopy, Atomic Force
Nanomaterials
Nanostructure
Nanotechnology
Rats
Reproducibility of Results
Spectroscopy, Imaging, and Other Techniques
Stiffness
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Summary:The atomic force microscope is a convenient tool to probe living samples at the nanometric scale. Among its numerous capabilities, the instrument can be operated as a nano-indenter to gather information about the mechanical properties of the sample. In this operating mode, the deformation of the cantilever is displayed as a function of the indentation depth of the tip into the sample. Fitting this curve with different theoretical models permits us to estimate the Young's modulus of the sample at the indentation spot. We describe what to our knowledge is a new technique to process these curves to distinguish structures of different stiffness buried into the bulk of the sample. The working principle of this new imaging technique has been verified by finite element models and successfully applied to living cells.
ISSN:0006-3495
1542-0086
DOI:10.1016/j.bpj.2009.05.010