Ultrastructural Location and Interactions of the Immunoglobulin Receptor Binding Sequence within Fibrillar Type I Collagen.

Collagen type I is a major constituent of animal bodies. It is found in large quantities in tendon, bone, skin, cartilage, blood vessels, bronchi, and the lung interstitium. It is also produced and accumulates in large amounts in response to certain inflammations such as lung fibrosis.

Structural and biomechanical basis of mitochondrial movement in eukaryotic cells.

Mitochondria serve as energy-producing organelles in eukaryotic cells. In addition to providing the energy supply for cells, the mitochondria are also involved in other processes, such as proliferation, differentiation, information transfer, and apoptosis, and play an important role in regulation of cell growth and the cell cycle. In order to achieve these functions, the mitochondria need to move to the corresponding location.

Topographic mapping and compression elasticity analysis of skinned cardiac muscle fibers in vitro with atomic force microscopy and nanoindentation.

Surface topography and compression elasticity of bovine cardiac muscle fibers in rigor and relaxing state have been studied with atomic force microscopy. Characteristic sarcomere patterns running along the longitudinal axis of the fibers were clearly observed, and Z-lines, M-lines, I-bands, and A-bands can be distinguished through comparing with TEM images and force curves. AFM height images of fibers had shown a sarcomere length of 1.

Gloss phenomena and image analysis of atomic force microscopy in molecular and cell biology.

Proper sample preparation, scan setup, data collection and image analysis are key factors in successful atomic force microscopy (AFM), which can avoid gloss phenomena effectively from unreasonable manipulations or instrumental defaults. Fresh cleaved mica and newly treated glass cover were checked first as the substrates for all of the sample preparation for AFM. Then, crystals contamination from buffer was studied separately or combined with several biologic samples, and the influence of scanner, scan mode and cantilever to data collection was also discussed intensively using molecular and cellular samples.