Atomic force microscopy is an increasingly attractive tool to study how peptides disrupt membranes. Often performed on reconstituted lipid bilayers, it provides access to time and length scales that allow dynamic investigations with nanometre resolution. Over the last decade, AFM studies have enabled visualisation of membrane disruption mechanisms by antimicrobial or host defence peptides, including peptides that target malignant cells and biofilms. Moreover, the emergence of high-speed modalities of the technique broadens the scope of investigations to antimicrobial kinetics as well as the imaging of peptide action on live cells in real time. This review describes how methodological advances in AFM facilitate new insights into membrane disruption mechanisms.

原子力显微镜是研究肽如何破坏膜的越来越有吸引力的工具。它通常在重构的脂质双层上进行，提供了访问时间和长度标度的途径，从而可以纳米分辨率进行动态研究。在过去的十年中，AFM研究已使抗微生物或宿主防御肽（包括靶向恶性细胞和生物膜的肽）的膜破坏机制得以可视化。此外，该技术高速模式的出现将研究范围扩展到了抗菌动力学以及实时对活细胞上的肽作用进行了成像。这篇综述描述了原子力显微镜的方法学进展如何促进对膜破坏机制的新见解。