Evaluation of yeast mechanical properties by atomic force microscopy

Abstract

Cells mechanical properties can show the living state of the cell since healthy cells and unhealthy cells have different mechanical properties. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is an integral asset in such researches. In this paper, we presented the possibility to acquire mechanical properties of cells affected by 9,10-phenentrenequinone, which is very useful in biosensors and biofuel cells researches as lipophilic redox mediator. This material is also toxic to the living cells, and it becomes a challenge to detect the real effect on the cells before using it in biosensorics-related researches. AFM was utilized to assess the condition of living cells when they were influenced by 9,10-phenentrenequinone. Our results show that a very low 9 µM concentration of this material gives very little influence to cells’ mechanical properties, however cell exposure by 27 µM gives 2-times higher elastic modulus.