Figure 5.

Correlation between surface roughness parameters (right y-axis) and mechanical properties of C. albicans cells (left y-axis). (A) The rigidity of C. albicans cells attached on npTi, glass, and pTi surfaces was analyzed after a 3-day incubation period. The values of the two surface roughness parameters, such as skewness and kurtosis, highlight the differences in surface architecture. Skewness and kurtosis reflect the proportion of valleys or peaks and the proportion of high peaks and hollow valleys, respectively. An increased cell rigidity was observed on surfaces with increased kurtosis values. A statistically significant difference in surface roughness parameters and Young’s modulus of attached C. albicans cells on pTi surfaces, compared to those on Ti and glass surfaces, is indicated by the asterisks (* p < 0.05). (B) Comparison of mechanical properties of C. albicans cells when settling on surfaces of varied in roughness and architecture. Hyphae were formed after 7-day incubation with npTi surfaces, as reported in a previous work [27].