REVIEW ARTICLE


Review of Progress in Atomic Force Microscopy



S. Maghsoudy-Louyeh, M. Kropf, B. R. Tittmann*
Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics, The Pennsylvania State University, 212 Earth-Engineering Sciences, University Park, PA 16802, USA


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Creative Commons License
© 2018 Maghsoudy-Louyeh et al.

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode). This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

* Address correspondence to this authors at Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics, The Pennsylvania State University, 212 Earth-Engineering Sciences, University Park, PA 16802, USA; Tel: 814-865-7827, Fax: 814-865-2737; E-mail: brt4@psu.edu


Abstract

The study of biological samples is one of the most attractive and innovative fields of application of atomic force microscopy AFM. Recent breakthroughs in software and hardware have revolutionized this field and this paper reports on recent trends and describes examples of applications on biological samples. Originally developed for high-resolution imaging purposes, the AFM also has unique capabilities as a nano-indentor to probe the dynamic visco-elastic material properties of living cells in culture. In particular, AFM elastography combines imaging and indentation modalities to map the spatial distribution of cell mechanical properties, which in turn reflect the structure and function of the underlying structure. This paper describes the progress and development of atomic force microscopy as applied to animal and plant cell structures.

Keywords: Atomic force microscopy, Biological cells, Aquaeous medium, Tapping mode, U-AFM, AFAM.