The cartilage is composed of chondrocytes embedded in a matrix of collagen fibrils interspersed within a network of proteoglycans and is constantly exposed to biomechanical forces during normal joint movement. Characterization of the surface morphology, cytoskeletal structure, adherance and elastic properties of these mechanosensitive cells are crucial in understanding the effects of mechanical forces around a cell and how a cell responds to changes in its physical environment. In this work, we employed the atomic force microscope (AFM) to image cultured chondrocytes before and after subjecting them to mechanical forces in the presence or absence of interleukin-1 beta to mimic inflammatory conditions. Nanoscale imaging and quantitative measurements from AFM data revealed that there are distinct changes in cell-surface topology and cytoskeleton arrangement in the cells following treatment with mechanical forces, IL-1 beta or both. Our findings for the first time demonstrate that cultured chondrocytes are amenable to high-resolution AFM imaging and dynamic tensile forces may help overcome the effect of inflammatory factors on chondrocyte response. (c) 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.