Abstract: Objective To explore effects of different sample preparing methods including cell culture method， cell printing slice method and liquid based cytology detection technology on the morphologies of ovarian cancer and cervical cancer cells by atomic force microscope（AFM）. Methods Low metastatic ovarian cancer cell line HO-8910 and highly metastatic ovarian cancer cell line HO-8910PM were cultured by cell culture method. The cell printing slice method was used to prepare the serous ovarian cancer sample. The liquid based cytology detection technology was employed to prepare squamous cell carcinoma and normal cervical cells samples. The morphologies of cells prepared by the three methods were obtained by AFM and analyzed.
Results For cancer cell samples prepared by the three methods， they all showed that the nucleus and cytoplasm increased in the dispersion morphology. Multiple nuclei easily gathered together， and superposition of coincidence caused further increase in size of cells. Main differences of three methods were as follows. For the ovarian cancer cell sample prepared by the cell culturing method， the cells were rectangular shaped， the whole length of the cells was 30-40μm， and the nucleus could not be distinguished clearly. For the ovarian cancer cell sample prepared by the cell printing slice method， the cells were in shape of irregular polygon with a round nucleus and an average diameter was about 15μm. For the squamous cell carcinoma samples prepared by the liquid based cytology detection technology， the samples presented the properties of bare cell nucleus， round nuclei was isolated with the surrounding tissue， and the average diameter was about 30μm. Conclusion Cell culture method， cell printing slice method and liquid based cytology detection technology are completely applicable for gynecological cancer cells observed by AFM tests. Different gynecological cancer cells show different morphologies on the substrate due to the effects of preparation methods.