High-resolution force map on an MRC-5 Force Map and Corresponding Elastic Modulus Map

Images from a force mapping experiment done on the MFP-3D-BIO?. A single MRC-5 Fibroblast cell was identified (a) using 40X phase contrast, and the region of interest (green box) was chosen using the AFM software. A 512x512 force map was made with a calibrated cantilever. The trigger point of each force curve was plotted as a height image (b). The Hertz model was automatically applied to each force curve in the array and the resulting modulus values were plotted as a color (c). The cell shows stiffness variability across its surface ? softer (darker colors) areas of the cytoplasm are contrasted with stiffer (lighter colors) areas in the location of the nucleus. Even stiffer areas are seen in the area of the nucleoli and actin filaments running across the top of the cell. (d) A 3D overlay was made using the included ARGyle? software; the 3D topography was made from the contact point height map, while the color was derived from the modulus data. Partial bibliography of our users? cell mechanics work: Raman, A, S Trigueros, A Cartagena, A P Z Stevenson, M Susilo, E Nauman, and S Antoranz Contera. "Mapping Nanomechanical Properties of Live Cells Using Multi-Harmonic Atomic Force Microscopy." Nature nanotechnology (2011)doi:10.1038/nnano.2011.186 Maciaszek, J L, B Andemariam, and G Lykotrafitis. "Microelasticity of Red Blood Cells in Sickle Cell Disease." The Journal of Strain Analysis for Engineering Design 46, no. 5 (2011): doi:10.1177/0309324711398809. Darling, E M. "Force Scanning: A Rapid, High-Resolution Approach for Spatial Mechanical Property Mapping." Nanotechnology 22, no. 17 (2011): doi:10.1088/0957-4484/22/17/175707 Maciaszek, Jamie L, and George Lykotrafitis. "Sickle Cell Trait Human Erythrocytes Are Significantly Stiffer Than Normal." Journal of biomechanics 44, no. 4 (2011): doi:10.1016/j.jbiomech.2010.11.008 Lulevich, Valentin, Christopher C Zimmer, Hyun-Seok Hong, Lee-Way Jin, and Gang-Yu Liu. "Single-Cell Mechanics Provides a Sensitive and Quantitative Means for Probing Amyloid-{Beta} Peptide and Neuronal Cell Interactions." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 107, no. 31 (2010): doi:10.1073/pnas.1008341107 Khripin, C Y, C J Brinker, and B Kaehr. "Mechanically Tunable Multiphoton Fabricated Protein Hydrogels Investigated Using Atomic Force Microscopy." Soft matter 6, no. 12 (2010): doi:10.1039/c001193b Flores-Merino, Miriam V, Somyot Chirasatitsin, Caterina Lopresti, Gwendolen C Reilly, Giuseppe Battaglia, and Adam J Engler. "Nanoscopic Mechanical Anisotropy in Hydrogel Surfaces." Soft matter 6, no. 18 (2010): doi:10.1039/C0SM00339E Maguire, P, J I Kilpatrick, G Kelly, P J Prendergast, V A Campbell, B C O'Connell, and S P Jarvis. "Direct Mechanical Measurement of Geodesic Structures in Rat Mesenchymal Stem Cells." HFSP journal 1, no. 3 (2007): doi:10.2976/1.2781618 Darling, Eric M, Stefan Zauscher, Joel A Block, and Farshid Guilak. "A Thin-Layer Model for Viscoelastic, Stress-Relaxation Testing of Cells Using Atomic Force Microscopy: Do Cell Properties Reflect Metastatic Potential?" Biophysical journal 92, no. 5 (2007): doi:10.1529/biophysj.106.083097. Lulevich, Valentin, Tiffany Zink, Huan-Yuan Chen, Fu-Tong Liu, and Gang-Yu Liu. "Cell Mechanics Using Atomic Force Microscopy-Based Single-Cell Compression." Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids 22, no. 19 (2006): doi:10.1021/la060561p Engler, Adam, Lucie Bacakova, Cynthia Newman, Alina Hategan, Maureen Griffin, and Dennis Discher. "Substrate Compliance Versus Ligand Density in Cell on Gel Responses." Biophysical journal 86, no. 1 Pt 1 (2004): doi:10.1016/S0006-3495(04)74140-5