Probing for chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy in live dorsal root ganglion neurons with atomic force microscopy

Patients withdraw from their life-saving treatment for cancer due to the development of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN). There is an urge to establish a screening tool to identify chemotherapy drugs that could cause peripheral neuropathy. Here, we tested the effects of some well-known CIPN drugs on mouse primary peripheral sensory neurons by using atomic force microscopy (AFM). CIPN drugs significantly change the cell morphology and mechanical properties of sensory neurons, which was detected by AFM. We proposed that our in vitro system can serve as a cell-based screening tool for future chemotherapy drug discovery.294