Characterization of Cell Response on Patterned Stiffness Substrate by AFAM

The stiffness of extracellular matrix strongly influences cells behavior, but characterization of substrate stiffness patterns is a challenge. In our study, atomic force acoustic microscopy (AFAM) was used to study the cell responses on substrate stiffness patterns. The nano-stripe stiffness pattern was imprinted on SU-8 film. Our results show that AFAM acoustic images can detect both the cell surfaces and the stiffness pattern on the SU-8 substrate. We find that the cells significant deformation on the patterned stiffness substrate. Moreover, when using cytochalasin-D to interfere actin filaments, there is a significantly decrease in cell area for cells seeded on the patterned stiffness substrate. This study provides new information for the design and characterization of extracellular matrix interfaces, and contributes to the understanding of cell-substate interactions.