Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA.
Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2010 Dec;51(12):6083-94. doi: 10.1167/iovs.10-5470.
The atomic force microscope (AFM) is widely used in materials science and has found many applications in biological sciences but has been limited in use in vision science. The AFM can be used to image the topography of soft biological materials in their native environments. It can also be used to probe the mechanical properties of cells and extracellular matrices, including their intrinsic elastic modulus and receptor-ligand interactions. In this review, the operation of the AFM is described along with a review of how it has been thus far used in vision science. It is hoped that this review will serve to stimulate vision scientists to consider incorporating AFM as part of their research toolkit.
原子力显微镜（AFM）广泛应用于材料科学领域，并在生物科学中找到了许多应用，但在视觉科学中的应用受到限制。AFM 可用于在其天然环境中对软生物材料的形貌进行成像。它还可用于探测细胞和细胞外基质的机械性能，包括它们的固有弹性模量和受体 - 配体相互作用。在这篇综述中，描述了 AFM 的操作原理，并回顾了迄今为止它在视觉科学中的应用。希望这篇综述将有助于激发视觉科学家考虑将 AFM 纳入他们的研究工具包。
