Table 1. Distribution of Synostosed Sagittal and Metopic Sutures as well as Patient Age Nanoscopic Imaging and Nanoindentation with Atomic Force Microscopy cranial sutures. After previous investigations of nanoscale structures by physical scientists, AFM has been recently used by biomedical scientists to investigate the molecular, ce tures. The present study is ongoing investigations of AFM.""'® In our previous s lular, and tissue struc- a continuation of our skeletal tissues using udies, AFM was used as a nanoindentation device for measuring the phys- ical properties of articular cartilage, chondrocyte matrices, cranial sutures, and front. sutural mineralization Fig 4 Quantification of surface topography and Young’s moduli of the synostosed sagittal and metopic sutures. (A) Histograms of mean surface roughness (R,) of synos- tosed sagittal and metopic sutures (**P < 0.01). (B) Histo- grams of Young’s moduli (E) of synostosed sagittal and metopic sutures (**P < 0.01). Fig5 Force volume images and force plots of a synostosed sagittal and metopic suture samples. (A) Representative image of endocranial surface of a synostosed sagittal suture. (B) Representative image of ectocranial surface of a synostosed sagittal suture. (C) Representative image of endocranial surface of a synostosed metopic suture. (D) Representative image of ec- tocranial surface of a synostosed metopic suture. In each subfigure, the elastic map in the larger square was height image with colors coded to relative surface elevations, whereas smaller square contained a force-volume image mapping atomic force microscope cantilever tip-sample interactions. Force plot represents tip-sample interaction at a given ___location. In force plot, X-axis represents vertical position of piezostage on which the sample was mounted. Y-axis represents vertical position of cantilever tip relative to a vertical deflection set point. Yellow line represents interaction between cantilever tip and sample.
