Atomic Force Microscopy-based essay for biomedical applications

The investigation of cellular mechanical properties for the evaluation of the cell physiological state has emerged as a hot topic in the last decade. In this framework, different aspects of the mechanobiology are considered in three biomedical fields. First, the alteration of the mechanical phenotype, the cell structure and morphology of melanoma cells according to the levels of production of a factor involved in the cytoskeleton organization, are considered. Secondly, mechanotransduction, and more precisely the capability of cells to adapt their mechanics to the environmental condition was investigated on the effect of a heart failure on cardiac pericytes. In the last part, the mechanical properties of oocytes have been identified as a scoring system to evaluate the quality of oocytes to be selected for the practice of the in vitro fertilization. In particular, I investigated the evolution of the oocyte stiffness and viscosity during post-ovulatory ageing, one of the processes responsible for the decreased yields of in vitro fertilization. Here, two mechanical parameters were found, able to predict ageing status of the oocytes before any visual feature due to degradation. allowing to introduce a novel classification for pre-apoptotic and non-fertile oocytes.