IN THE REPORT FROM MELTON ET AL., one of the current articles in focus (Ref. 21, see p. L543 in this issue), they use genetically engineered mice to demonstrate that at least 25% of normal surfactant protein B production is required for adult pulmonary function. With the use of doxycycline-regulated, compound-conditional knockout murine lineages, the authors show that genetic disruption of surf...

Time-kill curve experiments were performed with linezolid, doripenem, tigecycline, moxifloxacin, and daptomycin against Staphylococcus aureus and with colistin, moxifloxacin, and doripenem against Pseudomonas aeruginosa to evaluate the effect of porcine pulmonary surfactant on antimicrobial activity. Pulmonary surfactant significantly impaired the activities of moxifloxacin and colistin. When a...

Reptilian lungs are potentially susceptible to fluid disturbances because they have very high pulmonary fluid filtration rates. In mammals, pulmonary surfactant protects the lung from developing alveolar edema. Reptiles also have an order of magnitude more surfactant per square centimeter of respiratory surface area compared with mammals. We investigated the role of reptilian surfactant 1) in t...

Pneumonia is an important cause of respiratory failure, and is associated with increased alveolar permeability leading to pulmonary oedema, haemorrhage and atelectasis [1, 2]. The pathophysiological changes in pneumonia include hypoxaemia, decreased functional residual capacity (fRC), decreased total lung capacity (TLC), decreased lung compliance, and a diminished surfactant system [3-5]. As ea...

Interaction with the pulmonary surfactant film, being the first line of host defense, represents the initial bio-nano interaction in the lungs. Such interaction determines the fate of the inhaled nanoparticles and their potential therapeutic or toxicological effect. Despite considerable progress in optimizing physicochemical properties of nanoparticles for improved delivery and targeting, the m...

OBJECTIVE To determine prospectively the efficacy of surfactant in acute respiratory distress syndrome. STUDY DESIGN Twenty patients, 1 month to 16 years of age, diagnosed with an acute pulmonary disease with severe hypoxaemia (PaO2/FiO2 < 100) (13 with systemic or pulmonary disease and seven with cardiac disease) were treated with one to six doses of 50-200 mg/kg of porcine surfactant admini...

OGAWA, Y. Fetal Pulmonary Surfactant in Amniotic Fluid of Ewes. Tohoku J. exp. Med., 1972, 108 (4), 307-315-The phospholipids in the amniotic fluid from healthy pregnant ewes at various stages of gestation were analyzed in relation to the fetal pulmonary surfactant. The most abundant phospholipid was phosphatidylcholine which increased as the term approached. Analysis on the positional specific...

The pathophysiology of meconium aspiration syndrome(MAS) is related to mechanical obstruction of the airways and to chemical pneumonitis. Meconium is also suggested to cause functional deterioration of pulmonary surfactant. Recent studies have reported that meconium inhibits the physical surface properties of pulmonary surfactant, and that administration of exogenous surfactant may provide ther...

Surfactant protein A (SP-A) is the major protein component of pulmonary surfactant, a material secreted by the alveolar type II cell that reduces surface tension at the alveolar air-liquid interface. The function of SP-A in the alveolus is to facilitate the surface tension-lowering properties of surfactant phospholipids, regulate surfactant phospholipid synthesis, secretion, and recycling, and ...