Use Of A Polymer Construct For Multi-Use Atomic Force Microscope Imaging Of A Vascular Smooth Muscle Cell

Samuel Lieber, Cell Biology & Molecular Medicine, University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey

The atomic force microscope (AFM) has become an important tool to analyze the structure of living biological cells. The necessity to visualize the AFM probe/cell interaction has led to the development of integrated inverted microscope/AFM systems dedicated to biological use, which utilizes a transmitted light system. Multi-Use AFM units can be used for a variety of material studies, including biological ones; however, they employ an incident light magnification system, which limits the visibility of the AFM probe/cell interaction. We present a simple method, making use of a polymer construct (PC), which enhances the visibility of the AFM probe/cell interaction. This method was tested on vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) cultured on the PC and allows living VSMCs to be optically located prior to scanning, and helps prevent VSMCs from being removed under AFM scanning forces, thus greatly improving the capability of Multi-Use AFMs to conduct biological work on living samples.