Fig. 4: Viscoelastic harmonic quantities acquired from 2D adherent normal and cancerous skin cells.

The Storage (a) and Loss (b) modulus have been calculated from the parameterized Generalized Maxwell model for 2D adherent normal and cancerous human skin cells. These viscoelastic harmonic quantities are calculated using the optimal parameter set obtained from analyzing an average of 70, 71, and 193 force curves from the melanoma, melanocyte, and fibroblast cell conditions, respectively. In total, the averaged datasets contain curves collected from 13 unique melanoma cells, 12 unique melanocytes, and 33 unique fibroblasts. Note that the number of terms in the fitted viscoelastic model series determines the number of distinct features present in the plots. The observed confidence intervals are shaded in matching colors for each model; the method for determining these bounds is outlined in the “Methods” section, and is based on the optimal parameter sets obtained using every individual curve from each cell type.