SNOM and AFM microscopy techniques to study the effect of non ionising radiation on the morphological and biochemical properties of human keratinocytes cell line (HaCaT).

In this work we employed Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and Scanning Near-field Optical Microscopy (SNOM) techniques to study the effect of the interaction between human keratinocytes (HaCaT) and electromagnetic fields at low frequency. HaCaT cells were exposed to a sinusoidal magnetic field at a density of 50 Hz, 1mT. We performed AFM analysis showed modification in shape and morphology in exposed cells with an increase of the areas of adhesion between cells. This last evidence has been confirmed by SNOM indirect immunofluorescence analysis performed with a fluorescent antibody against the adhesion marker b4 integrin, which revealed an increase of b4 integrin segregation in the cell membrane of 50 Hz exposed cells, suggesting that a higher percentage of these cells shows a modified pattern of this adhesion marker.