A Method for Analyzing AFM Force Mapping Data Obtained from Soft Tissue Cryosections

Overview

Journal J Biomech

Specialty Physiology

Date 2024 Apr 22

PMID 38648717

Authors

Cydney A Wong

Nina Sara Fraticelli Guzman

A Thomas Read

Adam Hedberg-Buenz

Michael G Anderson

Andrew J Feola

Todd Sulchek

C Ross Ethier

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is a valuable tool for assessing mechanical properties of biological samples, but interpretations of measurements on whole tissues can be difficult due to the tissue's highly heterogeneous nature. To overcome such difficulties and obtain more robust estimates of tissue mechanical properties, we describe an AFM force mapping and data analysis pipeline to characterize the mechanical properties of cryosectioned soft tissues. We assessed this approach on mouse optic nerve head and rat trabecular meshwork, cornea, and sclera. Our data show that the use of repeated measurements, outlier exclusion, and log-normal data transformation increases confidence in AFM mechanical measurements, and we propose that this methodology can be broadly applied to measuring soft tissue properties from cryosections.

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