Atomic force microscopy for quantitative nanomechanical characterization of immune cells: techniques and applications...

Allergic reactions involve complex changes in immune cell morphology, membrane structure, and mechanical properties. Characterizing these changes at the nanoscale is important for understanding cell activation and intercellular interactions during allergic responses. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) has become a useful tool for this purpose because it can provide high-resolution surface imaging and quantitative mechanical measurements under near-physiological conditions. This review summarizes recent applications of AFM in the study of immune effector cells involved in allergic reactions, with emphasis on mast cells, macrophages, T cells, and B cells. We discuss how AFM has been used to examine membrane nanotopography, adhesion, stiffness, and cell-cell interaction forces, and how these measurements contribute to the analysis of immune-cell activation. In addition, the integration of AFM with complementary techniques is briefly outlined to show its value in multimodal characterization. This review suggests that AFM is not only useful for imaging allergy-related cells, but also for quantitative investigation of their nano mechanical behavior.