The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

Pulmonary surfactant in birds: coping with surface tension in a tubular lung

Pulmonary surfactant in birds: coping with surface tension in a tubular lung
Pulmonary surfactant in birds: coping with surface tension in a tubular lung
As birds have tubular lungs that do not contain alveoli, avian surfactant predominantly functions to maintain airflow in tubes rather than to prevent alveolar collapse. Consequently, we have evaluated structural, biochemical, and functional parameters of avian surfactant as a model for airway surfactant in the mammalian lung. Surfactant was isolated from duck, chicken, and pig lung lavage fluid by differential centrifugation. Electron microscopy revealed a uniform surfactant layer within the air capillaries of the bird lungs, and there was no tubular myelin in purified avian surfactants. Phosphatidylcholine molecular species of the various surfactants were measured by HPLC. Compared with pig surfactant, both bird surfactants were enriched in dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine, the principle surface tension-lowering agent in surfactant, and depleted in palmitoylmyristoylphosphatidylcholine, the other disaturated phosphatidylcholine of mammalian surfactant. Surfactant protein (SP)-A was determined by immunoblot analysis, and SP-B and SP-C were determined by gel-filtration HPLC. Neither SP-A nor SP-C was detectable in either bird surfactant, but both preparations of surfactant contained SP-B. Surface tension function was determined using both the pulsating bubble surfactometer (PBS) and capillary surfactometer (CS). Under dynamic cycling conditions, where pig surfactant readily reached minimal surface tension values below 5 mN/m, neither avian surfactant reached values below 15 mN/m within 10 pulsations. However, maximal surface tension of avian surfactant was lower than that of porcine surfactant, and all surfactants were equally efficient in the CS. We conclude that a surfactant composed primarily of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine and SP-B is adequate to maintain patency of the air capillaries of the bird lung.
avian lung surfactant, capillary surfactometer, dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine, pulsating bubble surfactometer, surfactant function
R327-R337
Bernhard, Wolfgang
a93ed9d7-1f32-42e8-bf9c-c9f0f14ad2a2
Gebert, Andreas
0a3fcb42-6444-4452-a139-c192dd2db628
Vieten, Gertrud
c8395300-6b89-4dfb-824c-5bdf38c4099f
Rau, Gunnar A.
025ddf77-417e-47e8-901f-0bf239f291a9
Hohlfeld, Jens M.
93e4d137-a7b0-43f4-85cd-bfc1e9714407
Postle, Anthony D.
0fa17988-b4a0-4cdc-819a-9ae15c5dad66
Freihorst, Joachim
e2d603aa-3710-4865-84b6-3865d48d145d
Bernhard, Wolfgang
a93ed9d7-1f32-42e8-bf9c-c9f0f14ad2a2
Gebert, Andreas
0a3fcb42-6444-4452-a139-c192dd2db628
Vieten, Gertrud
c8395300-6b89-4dfb-824c-5bdf38c4099f
Rau, Gunnar A.
025ddf77-417e-47e8-901f-0bf239f291a9
Hohlfeld, Jens M.
93e4d137-a7b0-43f4-85cd-bfc1e9714407
Postle, Anthony D.
0fa17988-b4a0-4cdc-819a-9ae15c5dad66
Freihorst, Joachim
e2d603aa-3710-4865-84b6-3865d48d145d

Bernhard, Wolfgang, Gebert, Andreas, Vieten, Gertrud, Rau, Gunnar A., Hohlfeld, Jens M., Postle, Anthony D. and Freihorst, Joachim (2001) Pulmonary surfactant in birds: coping with surface tension in a tubular lung. American Journal of Physiology: Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, 281 (1), R327-R337.

Record type: Article

Abstract

As birds have tubular lungs that do not contain alveoli, avian surfactant predominantly functions to maintain airflow in tubes rather than to prevent alveolar collapse. Consequently, we have evaluated structural, biochemical, and functional parameters of avian surfactant as a model for airway surfactant in the mammalian lung. Surfactant was isolated from duck, chicken, and pig lung lavage fluid by differential centrifugation. Electron microscopy revealed a uniform surfactant layer within the air capillaries of the bird lungs, and there was no tubular myelin in purified avian surfactants. Phosphatidylcholine molecular species of the various surfactants were measured by HPLC. Compared with pig surfactant, both bird surfactants were enriched in dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine, the principle surface tension-lowering agent in surfactant, and depleted in palmitoylmyristoylphosphatidylcholine, the other disaturated phosphatidylcholine of mammalian surfactant. Surfactant protein (SP)-A was determined by immunoblot analysis, and SP-B and SP-C were determined by gel-filtration HPLC. Neither SP-A nor SP-C was detectable in either bird surfactant, but both preparations of surfactant contained SP-B. Surface tension function was determined using both the pulsating bubble surfactometer (PBS) and capillary surfactometer (CS). Under dynamic cycling conditions, where pig surfactant readily reached minimal surface tension values below 5 mN/m, neither avian surfactant reached values below 15 mN/m within 10 pulsations. However, maximal surface tension of avian surfactant was lower than that of porcine surfactant, and all surfactants were equally efficient in the CS. We conclude that a surfactant composed primarily of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine and SP-B is adequate to maintain patency of the air capillaries of the bird lung.

This record has no associated files available for download.

More information

Published date: 2001
Keywords: avian lung surfactant, capillary surfactometer, dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine, pulsating bubble surfactometer, surfactant function
Organisations: Infection Inflammation & Immunity

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 26939
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/26939
PURE UUID: b8e383c0-7737-4331-a2bf-3b5e522e987a
ORCID for Anthony D. Postle: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-7361-0756

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 25 Apr 2006
Last modified: 09 Jan 2022 02:32

Export record

Contributors

Author: Wolfgang Bernhard
Author: Andreas Gebert
Author: Gertrud Vieten
Author: Gunnar A. Rau
Author: Jens M. Hohlfeld
Author: Joachim Freihorst

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×