This study examines the direct inhibitory effects of Pneumocystis carinii (Pc) organisms and chemical components on the surface activity and composition of whole calf lung surfactant (WLS) and calf lung surfactant extract (CLSE) in vitro. Incubation of WLS suspensions with intact Pc organisms (10(7) per milligram of surfactant phospholipid) did not significantly alter total phospholipid levels ...

Innovation in the field of exogenous surfactant therapy continues more than two decades after the drug became commercially available. One such innovation, lung lavage using dilute surfactant, has been investigated in both laboratory and clinical settings as a treatment for meconium aspiration syndrome (MAS). Studies in animal models of MAS have affirmed that dilute surfactant lavage can remove ...

BACKGROUND Rab38 small GTPase regulates intracellular transport in melanocytes and alveolar type II epithelial cells. Ruby rats carrying Rab38 and other gene mutations exhibit oculocutaneous albinism, bleeding diathesis, and hence, are a rat model of human Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome (HPS). We previously showed that Long Evans Cinnamon (LEC) rats, one strain of the Ruby rats, developed aberrant l...

C ongenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH), which occurs in one in 2,500 live births [1], is the most life-threatening cause of lung hypoplasia and is associated with high mortality, morbidity, cost, and suffering. The lungs are abnormally " stiff " in neonates with CDH [2], necessitating mechanical ventilation, often at high airway pressures, to prevent atelectasis and maximize the surface area av...

Acute lung injury syndromes remain common causes of morbidity and mortality in adults and children. Cellular and physiologic mechanisms maintaining pulmonary homeostasis during lung injury remain poorly understood. In the present study, the Stat-3 gene was selectively deleted in respiratory epithelial cells by conditional expression of Cre-recombinase under control of the surfactant protein C g...

N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive fusion protein (NSF) and soluble NSF attachment protein (alpha-SNAP) are thought to be soluble factors that transiently bind and disassemble SNAP receptor complex during exocytosis in neuronal and endocrine cells. Lung surfactant is secreted via exocytosis of lamellar bodies from alveolar epithelial type II cells. However, the secretion of lung surfactant is a relativ...

s of the 51st Workshop for Pediatric Research 51st Workshop for Pediatric Research Göttingen, Germany 16-17 April 2015 This supplement has not been sponsored. Meeting abstracts Background Prevalence of respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) caused by primary surfactant deficiency reaches 50% in infants below 32 weeks of gestational age. Increased alveolar surface tension leads to atelectatic and/o...

The course of a respiratory disorder in a child may end up in respiratory failure. There are also acute non-respiratory diseases which have a great influence on the respiratory functions and often lead to the acute lung injury and sometimes to the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). A feature of respiratory function deterioration is changed in the surfactant system. We often see inhibit...