THE ARCHITECTONICS PARAMETERS OF AFM MAPS OF THE EPITHELIAL CELL SURFACE OF MCF-7 BREAST CARCINOMA

Abstract

Due to the wide application of atomic force microscopy (AFM) in medical and biological sciences, the finding of parameters qualitatively characterizing the distribution of the values of various cell surface properties at the nanoscale level is becoming topical. The aim of the study was to reveal the features of the behavior of the parameters of roughness (R_q) and fractal dimension (D_F) assessed for AFM images of the surface of glutaraldehyde-fixed breast carcinoma cells (MCF-7 cells) with changing of the image resolution, the scanning area size, and the regions of the cells. It has been proved that the value of D_F for AFM images is limited by the minimal achieved scanning step. The mutual analysis of R_q and D_F of AFM images has revealed some difference in the prospects of these parameters and the advantage of the application of the parameter D_F=f(t) (dependence of the fractal dimension on the scale coefficient along the axis Z) to characterize the fine structure of the spatial distribution of the local topographic parameters and parameters of mechanical properties on the cell surface. The application of the dependence of the parameter D_F =f(t) on AFM images, makes it possible to quantitatively characterize the different cell regions (the leading edge, central area over the nucleus, transitional (middle) area).