Local stiffness measurements of C. elegans by buckling nanoprobes inside an Environmental SEM

This paper presents the local stiffness measurements of Caenorhabditis Elegans (C. elegans) by buckling nanoprobes through the nanorobotic manipulation system inside an environmental-scanning electron microscope (E-SEM). C. elegans has complex outer and inner structures constructed by approximately one thousand cells. For example, the lateral alae are the surface fine structure by seam cell body. In this paper, their fine structures were observed by E-SEM directly; without any drying or dyeing processes. The observation environments are controlled under different E-SEM chamber pressures for clear observation of C. elegans. The local stiffness of C. elegans was measured by buckling measurement method of the nanoprobe fabricated by focus ion beam (FIB) etching at the tip of atomic force microscope (AFM) cantilever. The measurement position can arbitrarily be controlled by the nanorobotic manipulator inside the E-SEM. In this work, from experimental results, the measured elasticity on lateral alae was 1.6 times larger than it around lateral alae. This local stiffness measurement technique can readily be applied to reveal unknown biological local stiffness, cell health conditions and novel cell diagnosis.