Letter abstract
Nature Nanotechnology 4, 389 - 393 (2009)
Published online: 12 April 2009 | doi:10.1038/nnano.2009.77
Subject Category: Nanosensors and other devices
Atomic force microscopy detects differences in the surface brush of normal and cancerous cells
S. Iyer1,4, R. M. Gaikwad1, V. Subba-Rao1,4, C. D. Woodworth2,3 & Igor Sokolov1,3
Abstract
The atomic force microscope is broadly used to study the morphology of cells1, 2, 3, 4, 5, but it can also probe the mechanics of cells. It is now known that cancerous cells may have different mechanical properties to those of normal cells6, 7, 8, but the reasons for these differences are poorly understood9. Here, we report quantitatively the differences between normal and cancerous human cervical epithelial cells by considering the brush layer on the cell surface. These brush layers, which consist mainly of microvilli, microridges and cilia, are important for interactions with the environment. Deformation force curves obtained from cells in vitro were processed according to the 'brush on soft cell model'10. We found that normal cells have brushes of one length, whereas cancerous cells have mostly two brush lengths of significantly different densities. The observed differences suggest that brush layers should be taken into account when characterizing the cell surface by mechanical means.
- Department of Physics, Clarkson University, Potsdam, New York 13699, USA
- Department of Biology, Clarkson University, Potsdam, NewYork 13699, USA
- Nanoengineering and Biotechnology Laboratories Center (NABLAB), Clarkson University, New York 13699, USA
- Present address: School of Biomedical, Biomolecular and Chemical Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Australia (S.I.); Department of Physics, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan 48202, USA (V.S.-R.)
Correspondence to: Igor Sokolov1,3 e-mail: isokolov@clarkson.edu
MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS
These links to content published by NPG are automatically generated.
RESEARCH
Mechanochemistry: targeted delivery of single moleculesNature Nanotechnology Letter (01 Nov 2006)
