High-throughput measurements of cell mechanics using atomic force microscopy with micro-patterned substrates

Cell mechanics is strongly related to various cell functions such as migration and proliferation. Since the mechanical properties of cells exhibited a large cell-to-cell variation, statistical evaluation of cell mechanics is crucial for understanding cell behavior. In this study, we investigated the deviation of cell complex shear modulus storage modulus, which was measured by atomic force microscopy (AFM) with micro-patterned substrates. The result showed that the cell number more than 50 was required to obtain the converged deviation in the case of NIH3T3 cells cultured in isolated substrates.