Preliminary study of force related reactions using atomic force microscopy

[[abstract]]原子力顯微鏡 (Atomic force microscopy, AFM) 具有奈米級的解析度和皮可牛頓 (pN) 的靈敏度，還有不易損壞樣品的優點，以及能在空氣及液體環境進行量測，非常適合應用在活體細胞及生物系統。最近，AFM 已進步到可以定量分析亞分子 (sub-molecular) 的物理、化學及生物性質並同時得到力對距離曲線 (Force-distance curve)。因此，本篇論文主要是利用原子力顯微鏡在液體環境觀察鏈親和素 (Streptavidin) 是否成功修飾上玻片，並藉由生物素 (Biotin) 與鏈親和素兩者之間的特異性，探討探針針尖修飾的生物素對玻片上修飾的鏈親和素之間的力對距離曲線組成分析，達到分子辨識的功能。從實驗結果來看，生物素與鏈親和素具特異性的力對距離曲線百分比在 20~30 %，比空白實驗 (8 %) 和控制組實驗 (12 %) 來的高。[[abstract]]Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is suitable to study live cells and biological systems because it has nanometer resolution, picoNewton (pN) sensitivity and without damaging the specimens. Recent developments in force-distance curve–based AFM enable one to combine sub-molecular imaging with quantitative mapping of physical, chemical and biological properties. Therefore, this thesis uses imaging of AFM to study the topography of streptavidin in buffer, and analyze force-distance curves between biotin tip of probe and streptavidin substrate by using their specific interaction to achieve the technique of molecular recognition by AFM. The results show that the percentages of force-distance curve between biotin and streptavidin are 20 to 30 % which are higher than blank (8 %) and control (12 %) respectively.[[note]]碩