抄録
Local stiffness of cell nuclei isolated from vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) and fibroblasts (FBs) were determined using an atomic force microscope (AFM). Nuclei were chemically isolated and attached to a cover glass in Hanks' balanced salt solution of room temperature. Then, the surface of a nucleus was observed using AFM, and force curves were obtained from the central region (8×8 μm) of the nucleus at the interval of 0.5 μm. From force-indentation curves, the distribution of local stiffness was determined in the central portion (4×4 μm) of the measurement area. Initial stiffness of the nuclei obtained from VSMCs and FBs were 0.43 nN/μm and 0.36 nN/μm, respectively; there was a tendency that the nucleus of VSMCs was stiffer than that of FBs, but the difference was not statistically significant. These results suggest that the difference in cell types does not affect much to the local surface mechanical properties of cell nucleus.
