Abstract
The investigation of subtle change of cells exposed to nanomaterials is extremely essential but also challenging for nanomaterial-based biological applications. In this study, atomic force microscopy (AFM) was employed to investigate the effects of iron-iron oxide core-shell magnetic nanoparticles on the mechanical properties of bovine articular chondrocytes (BACs). After being exposed to the nanoparticles even at a high nanoparticle-concentration (50 μg mL-1), no obvious difference was observed by using conventional methods, including the WST-1 assay and live/dead staining. However a significant difference of Young's modulus of the cells was detected by AFM even when the concentration of nanoparticles applied in the cell culture medium was low (10 μg mL-1). The difference of cellular Young's modulus increased with the increase of nanoparticle concentration. AFM was demonstrated to be a useful tool to identify the subtle change of cells when they were exposed to nanomaterials even at a low concentration.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 1284-1290 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Biomaterials Science |
Volume | 3 |
Issue number | 9 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 1 Sep 2015 |
Externally published | Yes |