Abstract
The number distribution of the elastic modulus of fibroblast cells was successfully measured during the early stages of adhesion using an atomic force microscope (AFM) combined with a microarray as a substrate, which allowed us to arrange and culture cells so that a large number of cells could be measured in a short time period. We confirmed that the cells deposited in the wells of the microarray could be cultured for at least 12 h without any significant migration. Histograms of the Young's modulus, E, of the cells during the early stages of adhesion produced from force curve measurements of cells (n\cong300) cultured for 3–9 h were well fitted to a log-normal distribution function. With increasing incubation time, the average value of E increased significantly, while the standard deviation of the distribution remained almost constant. The results are discussed in terms of the cytoskeleton inside cells.