Atomic Force Microscopy Study of the Effects of Water-Soluble Fullerenes on the Elasticity of Living Plant Cells

In this work, atomic force microscopy (AFM) was employed to characterize the elastic properties of a living suspension of Nicotiana tabacum L. cv. Bright Yellow (BY-2) cells and to investigate the changes in plant-cell elasticity that were induced by water-soluble C-70 fullerene derivatives. The results revealed different effects of the three fullerene derivatives that had different numbers of carboxylic groups on the cell elasticity. BY-2 cells that were repressed by dimalonic-acid-modified C-70 fullerenes (DiF(70)) and trimalonic-acid-modified C-70 fullerenes (TriF(70)) showed a clear decrease in their Youngs modulus. However, the Youngs modulus of cells that were treated with tetramalonic-acid-modified C-70 fullerenes (TetraF(70)) increased. Disruption of the actin cytoskeleton arrangement was observed following treatment with DiF(70) and TriF(70), but not with TetraF(70.) Moreover, the fullerene-induced cell-elasticity change was consistent with the change in cell-proliferation rate. This work provides a new approach and valuable information for the study of the biological effect of nanomaterials on plant cells.