Abstract
Local stiffness of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) isolated from rabbit thoracic aortas using a enzymatic digestion method and then cultured for 3,7,and 14 days were determined by means of atomic force microscopy. The stiffness obtained at the highest points of VSMCs had a tendency of decreasing with culture period. In the cells cultured for 3 days, the stiffness was highest and relatively uniform around highest points over cell nuclei. However, the stiffness over cell nuclei was remarkably variable in the cells cultured for 7 days; it was much larger over fibrous structures than between fibers. The cells cultured for 14 days had relatively low and uniform by distributed stiffness. These results suggest that the local stiffness of VSMCs is greatly affected by dynamic changes in the internal structure of cells which are developed by phenotypic modulation.
