Conway Institute of Biomolecular and Biomedical Research, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland.
Asylum Research an Oxford Instruments Company, 6310 Hollister Avenue, Santa Barbara, CA, 93117, USA.
Adv Healthc Mater. 2015 Nov 18;4(16):2456-74. doi: 10.1002/adhm.201500229. Epub 2015 Jul 22.
The behavior and mechanical properties of cells are strongly dependent on the biochemical and biomechanical properties of their microenvironment. Thus, understanding the mechanical properties of cells, extracellular matrices, and biomaterials is key to understanding cell function and to develop new materials with tailored mechanical properties for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) has emerged as an indispensable technique for measuring the mechanical properties of biomaterials and cells with high spatial resolution and force sensitivity within physiologically relevant environments and timescales in the kPa to GPa elastic modulus range. The growing interest in this field of bionanomechanics has been accompanied by an expanding array of models to describe the complexity of indentation of hierarchical biological samples. Furthermore, the integration of AFM with optical microscopy techniques has further opened the door to a wide range of mechanotransduction studies. In recent years, new multidimensional and multiharmonic AFM approaches for mapping mechanical properties have been developed, which allow the rapid determination of, for example, cell elasticity. This Progress Report provides an introduction and practical guide to making AFM-based nanomechanical measurements of cells and surfaces for tissue engineering applications.
细胞的行为和力学特性强烈依赖于其微环境的生化和生物力学特性。因此，了解细胞、细胞外基质和生物材料的力学特性是理解细胞功能的关键，也是为组织工程和再生医学应用开发具有定制力学特性的新材料的关键。原子力显微镜（AFM）已成为一种不可或缺的技术，可以在生理相关的环境和时间尺度内，以高空间分辨率和力灵敏度测量生物材料和细胞的力学特性，其弹性模量范围在 kPa 到 GPa 之间。随着人们对生物纳米力学这一领域的兴趣日益浓厚，描述分层生物样本压痕复杂性的模型也在不断扩展。此外，将 AFM 与光学显微镜技术相结合，进一步为广泛的机械转导研究开辟了道路。近年来，已经开发出了新的多维和多谐 AFM 方法来绘制机械性能图谱，这些方法可以快速确定例如细胞弹性等特性。本进展报告提供了一个介绍和实用指南，用于进行基于 AFM 的细胞和表面的纳米力学测量，以应用于组织工程。
