Modeling AFM Induced Mechanical Deformation of Living Cells

摘要

Finite element modeling has been applied to study deformation of living cells in Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and particularly Recognition Force Microscopy (RFM). The abstract mechanical problem of interest is the response to RFM point loads of an incompressible medium enclosed in a fluid membrane. Cells are soft systems, susceptible to large deformations in the course of an RFM measurement. Often the local properties such as receptor anchoring forces, the reason for the measurement, are obscured by the response of the cell as a whole. Modelling can deconvolute these effects.