Cell membrane sample preparation method of combined AFM and dSTORM analysis

A major role of cell membranes is to provide an ideal environment for the constituent proteins to perform their biological functions. A deep understanding of the membrane proteins assembly process under physiological conditions is quite important to elucidate both the structure and the function of the cell membranes. Along these lines, in this work, a complete workflow of the cell membrane sample preparation and the correlated AFM and dSTORM imaging analysis methods are presented. A specially designed, angle-controlled sample preparation device was used to prepare the cell membrane samples. The correlated distributions of the specific membrane proteins with the topography of the cytoplasmic side of the cell membranes can be obtained by performing correlative AFM and dSTORM measurements. These methods are ideal for systematically studying the structure of the cell membranes. The proposed method of the sample characterization was not only limited to the measurement of the cell membrane but also can be applied for both biological tissue section analysis and detection.