Growth Cones of Living Neurons Probed by Atomic Force Microscopy

A large body of recent literature describes the use of atomic force microscopy (AFM; ref. 1 ) for the study of living cells. These experimental findings clearly indicate that AFM is a very valuable tool for the 3D imaging of flat biological samples strongly adhering to a substrate, with a lateral resolution in between the resolutions of optical and electron microscopy. Moreover, a very relevant feature of AFM is its capability of analyzing local mechanical properties of living cells.