Issue |
Med Sci (Paris)
Volume 19, Number 1, Janvier 2003
|
|
---|---|---|
Page(s) | 92 - 99 | |
Section | M/S Revues : Dossier Technique | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/medsci/200319192 | |
Published online | 15 January 2003 |
Microscopie à force atomique : de l’imagerie cellulaire à la manipulation moléculaire
From cell imaging to molecular manipulation: biological applications of atomic force microscopy
1
Centre de Biochimie Structurale, Cnrs UMR 5048, Université Montpellier 1, Inserm U.554, 29, rue de Navacelles, 34090 Montpellier Cedex, France
2
Laboratoire CRRET, Université Paris 12, 94000 Créteil Cedex, France
3
Laboratoire de Physique, Cnrs URA 5027, UFR Sciences et Techniques, 9, rue Alain Savary, BP 47870, 21078 Dijon Cedex, France
Le microscope à force atomique explore la surface d’échantillons biologiques à l’aide d’une pointe effilée portée par un ressort très souple. La précision des déplacements de cette pointe, dans les trois plans de l’espace, couplée à une utilisation dans des solutions physiologiques, permet de visualiser aussi bien des structures biologiques complexes que des molécules uniques, et cela dans leur état fonctionnel. Les résolutions latérale et verticale peuvent atteindre quelques angströms. Outil de dissection et de manipulation à l’échelle moléculaire, le microscope à force atomique offre également une nouvelle approche pour la détermination, sur molécules uniques, des forces intra- et intermoléculaires.
Abstract
Using a sharp tip attached at the end of a soft cantilever as a probe, the atomic force microscope (AFM) explores the surface topography of biological samples bathed in physiological solutions. In the last few years, the AFM has gained popularity among biologists. This has been obtained through the improvement of the equipment and imaging techniques as well as through the development of new nonimaging applications. Biological imaging has to face a main difficulty that is the softness and the dynamics of most biological materials. Progress in understanding the AFM tip-biological samples interactions provided spectacular results in different biological fields. Recent examples of the possibilities offered by the AFM in the imaging of intact cells, isolated membranes, membrane model systems and single molecules at work are discussed in this review. Applications where the AFM tip is used as a nanotool to manipulate biomolecules and to determine intraand intermolecular forces from single molecules are also presented.
© 2003 médecine/sciences - Inserm / SRMS
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