Identification of colloidal gold labels with template-matching method for Atomic Force Microscopy

Hiroshi Okamoto¹, Yuji Ohta², and Tomoko Okuda²

1) Graduate School of Engineering, Toyo University, 2100 Kujirai, Kawagoe, Saitama 350-8585, Japan
2)Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Toyo University, 2100 Kujirai, Kawagoe, Saitama 350-8585, Japan

Atomic Force Microscopy has become a powerful tool in the fields of biophysics and biophysical chemistry. A number of biological samples have been imaged at high resolution by AFM. One of the problems of imaging biological samples with AFM is the lack of specificity and the need for a specific labeling technique for AFM has been recognized. Immuno-gold labels in combination with AFM have been developed for that purpose. However, the colloidal gold labels can hardly be discriminated from the globular protrusions of the cell membrane.ﾅ@In this paper, a numerical template-matching method was developed to discriminate the colloidal gold label from the globular protrusion on cell membrane.