原子力显微镜对胶原各级结构和聚集形态的观测

Detection of Collagen and its Assembly Structures by Atomic Force Microscope

使用原子力显微镜（AFM）观测了胶原各级结构及典型体外聚集形态，对用AFM研究胶原的适用范围、优点和不足进行了系统的概括，并对制样方法和检测条件进行了探讨。AFM能观测到胶原分子的形态，也能用于检测和表征胶原的超分子聚集体——胶原原纤维，其周期横纹清晰可见，还能检测到由原纤维组装而成的直径为1-2肌m的胶原纤维。AFM在用于研究胶原其它体外聚集形态时，也得到了很好的结果。虽然AFM的应用存在一些局限性，如对样品的表面平整度要求较高、扫描范围的缩放不够灵活，但其具有制样手段方便快捷、分辨率高等优势，使其有望在胶原及其它生物大分子的研究中发挥重要的作用。

Atomic force microscope （AFM） was uesd for detecting collagen and its natural assembly structure, as well as the typical collagen assemblies formed in vitro. The ability and suitability of AFM in detecting collagen and its assemblies were summarized. The sample preparation and the optimized detection process were discussed. We found that AFM can be uesd to detect a single collagen molecule and the supramolecular assembly of collagen （collagen fibrils） with a periodic band pattern, even the collagen fibrils bundle, namely collagen fiber （1-2 p.m in diameter） can be detected. Moreover, AFM is feasible to detect collagen assemblies formed in vitro. But AFM has some disadvantages, for instance, AFM de- tection process was extremely relied on the smoothness of smaple. Generally, AFM is an effective detection method for collagen research, because of its high resolution and the convenient sample preparation process.