Hybrid fluorescence-AFM explores articular surface degeneration in early osteoarthritis across length scales

Abstract: Atomic force microscopy (AFM) has become a powerful tool for the characterization of materials at the nanoscale. Nevertheless, its application to hierarchical biological tissue like cartilage is still limited. One reason is that such samples are usually millimeters in size, while the AFM delivers much more localized information. Here a combination of AFM and fluorescence microscopy is presented where features on a millimeter sized tissue sample are selected by fluorescence microscopy on the micrometer scale and then mapped down to nanometer precision by AFM under native conditions. This served us to show that local changes in the organization of fluorescent stained cells, a marker for early osteoarthritis, correlate with a significant local reduction of the elastic modulus, local thinning of the collagen fibers, and a roughening of the articular surface. This approach is not only relevant for cartilage, but in general for the characterization of native biological tissue from the macro- to the nanoscale

Object Details

• Location: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Extent: Online-Ressource
• Language: Englisch
• Notes: Acta biomaterialia. - 126 (2021) , 315-325, ISSN: 1878-7568

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (where): Freiburg
• (who): Universität
• (when): 2021
• Creator: Tschaikowsky, Mathäus ; Neumann, Tanja ; Brander, Sofia ; Haschke, Heiko ; Rolauffs, Bernd ; Balzer, Bizan N. ; Hugel, Thorsten

Further information

• DOI: 10.1016/j.actbio.2021.03.034
• URN: urn:nbn:de:bsz:25-freidok-1948502
• Rights: Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Last update: 25.03.2025, 1:42 PM CET