High-resolution high-speed dynamic mechanical spectroscopy of cells and other soft materials with the help of atomic force microscopy.

ABSTRACT: Dynamic mechanical spectroscopy (DMS), which allows measuring frequency-dependent viscoelastic properties, is important to study soft materials, tissues, biomaterials, polymers. However, the existing DMS techniques (nanoindentation) have limited resolution when used on soft materials, preventing them from being used to study mechanics at the nanoscale. The nanoindenters are not capable of measuring cells, nanointerfaces of composite materials. Here we present a highly accurate DMS modality, which is a combination of three different methods: quantitative nanoindentation (nanoDMA), gentle force and fast response of atomic force microscopy (AFM), and Fourier transform (FT) spectroscopy. This new spectroscopy (which we suggest to call FT-nanoDMA) is fast and sensitive enough to allow DMS imagi

SUBMITTER: Dokukin M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4649865 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature