Figure 1.

Labeling method and imaging of biotinylated intact rat aortic SMCs. (A) Schematics of the cell biotinylation and AFM/MFM imaging procedure, showing the key steps of cell membrane biotinylation with biotin XX (step 1), labeling with anti-biotin-coated superparamagnetic microbeads (step 2), and imaging with the AFM/MFM probe (step 3). (B and C) Confocal images of freshly isolated (B) and primary cultured (C) rat aortic SMCs were biotinylated as shown in A (step 1), but labeled with anti-biotin-conjugated FITC instead of magnetic microbeads (step 2). Confocal images were used to verify the experimental procedure before magnetic labeling. The left and right panels in B and C compare fluorescent and superimposed fluorescent and transmitted light images, respectively. Scale bars are 50 μm.