title: Atomic force microscopy studies of living cells: visualization of motility, division, aggregation, transformation, and apoptosis.
abstract: Atomic force microscopy, in contact mode, has been used to image living mammalian cells in culture at both low and high resolutions. The method is shown practical for revealing cytoskeletal features beneath the cell membrane and their restructuring during a variety of cellular activities. Among the processes that we have visualized are locomotion, tissue formation, cell division, transformation by viruses, and cell death. We show that some processes that occur well within cells can, nonetheless, be observed using the atomic force probe. At high resolution, features on the cell surface on the order of 0.5 micron and their changes with time, can be recorded.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, University of California at Riverside, Riverside, California 92521, USA.
authors.forename: Y G
authors.initials: YG
authors.lastname: Kuznetsov
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Malkin
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: McPherson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D002449:Cell Aggregation; D002455:Cell Division; D002465:Cell Movement; D002472:Cell Transformation, Viral; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002642:Chick Embryo; D003599:Cytoskeleton / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000648:ultrastructure; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force; D010006:Osteoblasts / Q000648:ultrastructure; D012516:Osteosarcoma / Q000648:ultrastructure