Atomic force microscope observation on biomembrane before and after peroxidation

Atomic force microscope (AFM) has been used to visualize the morphological change on the surface of erythrocyte membrane before and after oxidation. A smooth surface of intact erythrocyte cell was observed, while treatment by ferrous ion and ascorbate induced hemolysis of intact erythrocytes, generated many holes with average size of 146.6 +/- 33.2 nm in diameter (n=28) on membrane surface as seen by AFM. Ghost membrane and its inside-out vesicles were also used for the experiment. Skeleton structure and protein vesicles could be observed on the surface of an intact erythrocyte membrane before oxidation. Sendai virus induced fusion of inside-out vesicles seemed suppress peroxidation, while no such effect was observed in ghost membrane and erythrocyte systems.