Figure 6.

AFM/MFM imaging of ET receptors on the surface of aortic SMCs. (A) AFM image (50 × 30 μm) of the surface area of a cultured SMC. (B) AFM images of three selected areas at high spatial resolution (2.5 × 2.5 μm) shown by squares 1–3 in A (upper panels) and their corresponding 3D reconstruction (bottom panels). (C) Corresponding MFM images of the three areas shown in B. Note a correlation between amplitude heights measured with AFM and magnetic responses measured with MFM, confirming the specificity of the receptor labeling. (D) Line section analysis of the AFM topographic (black lines) and MFM magnetic (blue lines) responses for two individual ET receptors (i) and two receptor complexes (ii and iii) marked by straight lines in the third selected area (right columns in B and C).