Heterogeneous cell mechanical properties: an atomic force microscopy study.

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is a non-invasive microscopy to explore living biological systems like cells in liquid environment. Thus AFM is an appropriate tool to investigate surface chemical modification and its influence on biological systems. In particular, control over biomaterial surface chemistry can result in a regulated cell response. This report investigates the influence of adhesive and non-adhesive surfaces on the cell morphology and the influence of the cytoskeleton structure on the local mechanical properties. In this study, the main work concerns a thorough investigation of the height images obtained with an AFM as therecorded images provide the evolution of the mechanical properties of the cell as function of its local structure. Information on the cell elasticity due to the cytoskeleton organization is deduced when comparing the AFM tip indentation depth versus the distance between the cytoskeleton bundles for the different samples.