title: The structure and function of cell membranes examined by atomic force microscopy and single-molecule force spectroscopy.
abstract: The cell membrane is one of the most complicated biological complexes, and long-term fierce debates regarding the cell membrane persist because of technical hurdles. With the rapid development of nanotechnology and single-molecule techniques, our understanding of cell membranes has substantially increased. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) has provided several unprecedented advances (e.g., high resolution, three-dimensional and in situ measurements) in the study of cell membranes and has been used to systematically dissect the membrane structure in situ from both sides of membranes; as a result, novel models of cell membranes have recently been proposed. This review summarizes the new progress regarding membrane structure using in situ AFM and single-molecule force spectroscopy (SMFS), which may shed light on the study of the structure and functions of cell membranes.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Electroanalytical Chemistry, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, Jilin 130022, P. R. China. hdwang@ciac.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Yuping
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shan
authors.forename: Hongda
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D003584:Cytological Techniques; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force; D008958:Models, Molecular; D036103:Nanotechnology; D045663:Quantum Dots / Q000378:metabolism