Figure 19.
Schematic of the three types of experimental techniques used to probe living cells. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) (a) and magnetic twisting cytometry (MTC) (b) are type A methods which can probe cell components at force resolution of 10−10 and 10−12 N, respectively, and displacement resolution of at least 1 nm. Micropipette aspiration (MA) (c) and optical trap (OT) (d) are type B techniques that can deform an entire cell at force resolution of 10−10 and 10−11 N, respectively. Shear flow (e) and substrate stretching (f) methods are capable of mechanical response evaluation of a population of cells.