In the lungs, oxygen transfer from the inspired air to the capillary blood needs to cross the surfactant lining layer of the alveoli. Therefore, the gas transfer characteristics of lung surfactant film are of fundamental physiological interest. However, previous in vitro studies-most relied on the Langmuir-type balance-fail to cover the low surface tension range (i.e., less than the equilibrium...

BACKGROUND Prophylactic exogenous surfactant therapy is a promising way to attenuate the ischemia and reperfusion (I/R) injury associated with lung transplantation and thereby to decrease the clinical occurrence of acute lung injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome. However, there is little information on the mode by which exogenous surfactant attenuates I/R injury of the lung. We hypoth...

Pulmonary surfactant's complex mixture of phospholipids and proteins reduces the work of breathing by lowering alveolar surface tension during respiration. One mechanism of surfactant damage appears to be the hydrolysis of phospholipid by phospholipases activated in the inflamed lung. Humans have several candidate secretory phospholipase A(2) (sPLA(2)) enzymes in lung cells and infiltrating leu...

Pulmonary surfactant, a lipoprotein complex, maintains alveolar integrity and plays an important role in lung host defense, and control of inflammation. Altered inflammatory processes and surfactant dysfunction are well described events that occur in patients with acute or chronic lung disease that can develop secondary to a variety of insults. Genetic variants of surfactant proteins, including...

Components of surfactant act as opsonins and enhance phagocytosis of bacteria; whether this process occurs with atmospheric fine particles has not been shown. We have studied the interactions of fine particles (urban PM(2.5)) and surfactant removed from normal human lungs by lavage, using a surface analysis technique. The aim was to identify which of the chemical components of brochoalveolar la...

Modified natural surfactant preparations, used for treatment of respiratory distress syndrome in premature infants, contain phospholipids and the hydrophobic surfactant protein (SP)-B and SP-C. Herein, the individual and combined effects of SP-B and SP-C were evaluated in premature rabbit fetuses treated with airway instillation of surfactant and ventilated without positive end-expiratory press...

Types A and B Niemann-Pick disease (NPD) are lipid storage disorders caused by the deficient activity of acid sphingomyelinase (ASM). In humans, NPD is associated with the dysfunction of numerous organs including the lung. Gene targeting of the ASM gene in transgenic mice produced an animal model with features typical of NPD, including pulmonary inflammation. To assess mechanisms by which ASM p...

OBJECTIVE To review the pathophysiology, evaluation, management, and outcomes of children with inherited disorders of surfactant metabolism due to mutations in the genes encoding surfactant proteins-B or -C (SFTPB, SFTPC), ATP binding cassette member A3 (ABCA3), and thyroid transcription factor (NKX2.1). DATA SOURCES Review of the literature, previous work from the author's and collaborators'...

This study explored, the inflammatory response during experimental pneumonia in surfactant-depleted animals as a function of ventilation strategies and surfactant treatment. Following intratracheal instillation of Group B streptococci (GBS), surfactant-depleted piglets were treated with conventional (positive-end expiratory pressure (PEEP) of 5 cmH2O, tidal volume 7 mL x kg(-1)) or open lung ve...

Background: Neonatal respiratory-distress syndrome (nRDS) is a disease that affects the lung functions in premature infants who are born before their surfactant biosynthetic system has matured. Several surfactant-replacement therapies have been developed and are efficacious in treating the RDS. Objective: The study investigates the inflammatory response of the lung derived cells in rat pups wit...