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Molecular Force Spectroscopy on Cells: Physiological Functions of Cell Adhesion

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Handbook of Single Cell Technologies

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Abstract

Molecular force spectroscopy (MFS) is a powerful single-cell force spectroscopy tool, usually associated with the height maps of sample surfaces with supernanometer resolution. It enables a single living cell is attached to the atomic force microscope (AFM) to quantify the forces that drive cell-to-cell and cell-to-substrate interactions. Interestingly, AFM-based measurements could be useful to image samples with little or no treatment and under physiologically live conditions, making it well-suited for investigating the ultrastructure of biological tissues. As cell-matrix adherence is a dynamic process, it undergoes continuous remodeling characterized by the perpetual breakage and reformation of bonds with extracellular binding partners. Using AFM-based on single-cell force spectroscopy (AFM-SCFS) is the most extensively studied technique to find in detail the physiological functions of cell adhesion. For this reason, molecular force measurements on the level of single cells gain interest not only for nano/bio-physics but also for biomedical engineering. This chapter discusses an overview of commonly used AFM-SCFS techniques and their applications for single-cell imaging.

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Acknowledgments

This work was partially supported by the Basic Science Research Program through the “National Research Foundation of Korea” funded by the “Ministry of Education” (NRF-2018R1A6A1A03025582 & NRF-2019R1D1A3A03103828).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biosystems Engineering, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon, Republic of Korea

    Sayan Deb Dutta, Keya Ganguly & Ki-Taek Lim

  2. The Institute of Forest Science, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon, Republic of Korea

    Dinesh K. Patel

Authors
  1. Sayan Deb Dutta
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  2. Dinesh K. Patel
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  3. Keya Ganguly
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  4. Ki-Taek Lim
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Correspondence to Ki-Taek Lim .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Engineering Design, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India

    Tuhin Subhra Santra

  2. Department of Engineering and System Science, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan

    Fan-Gang Tseng

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Dutta, S.D., Patel, D.K., Ganguly, K., Lim, KT. (2020). Molecular Force Spectroscopy on Cells: Physiological Functions of Cell Adhesion. In: Santra, T.S., Tseng, FG. (eds) Handbook of Single Cell Technologies. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4857-9_30-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4857-9_30-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-10-4857-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-10-4857-9

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