AFM membrane roughness as a probe to identify oxidative stress-induced cellular apoptosis

The morphological change of cellular apoptosis initiates from the change of membrane roughness. In order to identify cellular apoptosis in its early stage, atomic force microscope was adapted to reveal the change of membrane roughness in unprecedented details, providing an image in nanometer-scaled resolution. The mouse monocyte/macrophage cell line RAW 264.7 was the subject studied and subjected to apoptotic induction by hydrogen peroxide. A finding of the qualitative correlation between cell membrane roughness and oxidative stress level is disclosed stating that roughness is increasing with the increasing level of oxidative stress. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.