AFM indentation experiments were performed with a Bioscope II head (Veeco) mounted onto an Olympus IX73 microscope. For micromechanical measurements, spherical silicon dioxide beads with a diameter of 3.5 μm glued onto tip-less silicon nitride cantilevers (NanoAndMore, CP-PNPL-SiO-B-5) with a nominal spring constant of 0.08 N m−1 were used. For all indentation experiments, forces of up to 3 nN were applied, and the velocities of cantilever approach and retraction were kept constant at 2 μm s−1 ensuring detection of elastic properties only. All measurements were performed at 37 °C. Data analysis was carried out with AtomicJ using the Hertz model of impact65 .
Further detailed information about skin sample preparation, immunohistochemistry, and protein isolation and immunoblotting can be found in the Supplementary Methods.
Further detailed information about skin sample preparation, immunohistochemistry, and protein isolation and immunoblotting can be found in the Supplementary Methods.