AUTHOR=Liu Bing-Chen , Lu Xiao-Yu , Song Xiang , Lei Ke-Yu , Alli Abdel A., Bao Hui-Fang , Eaton Douglas C., Ma He-Ping 

TITLE=Scanning ion conductance microscopy: a nanotechnology for biological studies in live cells

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Physiology

VOLUME=3

YEAR=2013

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/physiology/articles/10.3389/fphys.2012.00483

DOI=10.3389/fphys.2012.00483

ISSN=1664-042X

ABSTRACT=<p>Scanning ion-conductance microscope (SICM), which enables high-resolution imaging of cell surface topography, has been developed for over two decades. However, only recently, a unique scanning mode is increasingly used in biological studies to allow SICM to detect the surface of live cells. More recently, in combination with confocal microscopy and patch-clamp electrophysiological techniques, SICM allows investigators to localize proteins or ion channels in a specific nanostructure at the cell surface. This article will briefly review SICM nanotechnique and summarize the role of SICM in biological studies.</p>