Mechanical measurements of in vitro tissue by atomic force microscopy

Atomic force microscopy is a powerful tool for studying mechanical property of biological samples. However, in conventional AFM, the scan range is relatively small so that the AFM is not suitable for the measurement of large-scale biological samples like tissue. In this study, we developed a simple AFM system, which allows mapping of the topography and mechanical property of large-scale biological samples cultured on dish. Using the AFM, we succeeded to obtain the mapping images of the relative height and elastic modulus of hepatocyte co-culture system in a large area at a subcellular spatial resolution.