高速自动化细胞机械特性测量系统

A High-speed Automatic System for Measuring the Mechanical Properties of Cells

细胞机械特性作为一种无标签(Label-free)的生物标记,正得到越来越多的关注.然而现有进行细胞机械特性测量的方法多以手工模式进行,耗时长、效率低下,无法满足生物学统计分析对大批量样品测试的要求.针对该问题,本文在原子力显微镜(Atomic force microscopy,AFM)基础上,建立了一套高速自动化的细胞机械特性测量系统.该系统利用图像处理方法来识别细胞,利用局部扫描来实现AFM针尖和细胞相对位置的精确标定,进而不需要AFM成像就能实现细胞机械特性的连续测定,配合上程序化控制的运动载物平台,可以高速自动化完成大范围区域内细胞机械特性的批量规模化测量.实验结果表明,该系统可以使得细胞机械特性的测量效率提高27倍,从而为Label-free生物标记的批量化测试提供了技术支撑.

As a novel effective label-free b!omarker, the mechanical properties of cells have become increasingly important. However, the current methods of mapping the cellular mechanical properties are mostly carried out manually and this results in that the measurements are time consuming, which can not meet the demand of testing a large quantity of cell samples for biological statistical analysis. In this paper, a high-speed automatic system for measuring the mechanical properties of cells based on atomic force microscopy （AFM） is proposed. In this system, cells are recognized using an image processing method and the relative position of the cell with respect to AFM tip is accurately calibrated by the local scan method, i.e., the mechanical properties of cells can be measured sequentially without performing the step of AFM imaging. Besides, with the automation implementation, the high-throughput measurement of cellular mechanical properties can be performed rapidly. Experimental results show that the measurement efficiency of our system is 27 times faster than that of the traditional method.