Cell spreading on quartz crystal microbalance elicits positive frequency shifts indicative of viscosity changes

Cell attachment and spreading on solid surfaces was investigated with a home-made quartz crystal microbalance (QCM), which measures the frequency, the transient decay time constant and the maximal oscillation amplitude. Initial interactions of the adsorbing cells with the QCM mainly induced a decrease of the frequency, coincident with mass adsorption. After about 80min, the frequency increased continuously and after several hours exceeded the initial frequency measured before cell adsorption. Phase contrast and fluorescence microscopy indicated that the cells were firmly attached to the quartz surface during the frequency increase. The measurements of the maximal oscillation amplitude and the transient decay time constant revealed changes of viscoelastic properties at the QCM surface. An important fraction of these changes was likely due to alterations of cytosolic viscosity, as suggested by treatments of the attached cells with agents affecting the actin and microtubule cytoskeleton. Our results show that viscosity variations of cells can affect the resonance frequency of QCM in the absence of apparent cell desorption. The simultaneous measurements of the maximal oscillation amplitude, the transient decay time constant and the resonance frequency allow an analysis of cell adsorption to solid substratum in real time and complement cell biological method

AgO investigated by photoelectron spectroscopy : Evidence for mixed valence

We present photoelectron spectroscopy investigations of in-situ prepared AgO. The sample was prepared by room temperature oxidation of Ag in an electron cyclotron resonance O2 plasma. In contrast to other measurements based on ex situ prepared AgO powder samples, our investigations show a distinct double peak structure of the O 1s signal with a remarkable chemical shift of 2.9 eV between the two O 1s components. These two components can not be motivated from a crystallographic point of view as the oxygen sites are all equivalent in the unit cell. We interpret this double peak structure as a characteristic feature of AgO and discuss it in terms of mixed valences