title: Adrenalectomy and surfactant in adult rats.
abstract: We examined the effect of adrenalectomy (ADX) on aspects of the surfactant system of adult rats. Five days after bilateral ADX, ADX rats had about 20% less disaturated phosphatidylcholine (DSPC) in lung lavage returns (airway DSPC) than sham-operated rats, but the amount of tissue DSPC was not different between the groups; airway DSPC formed 12.8 +/- 0.5% of total DSPC (airway + tissue) in ADX and 15.9 +/- 0.7% in sham-ADX rats. An ultrastructural morphometric analysis of alveolar type 2 cells did not reveal an effect of ADX on lamellar body volume density or surface-to-volume ratio. ADX rats had heavier lungs (not as a result of edema) than sham-ADX rats. Treatment of ADX rats with hydrocortisone returned the amount of DSPC toward normal and eliminated the increase of lung weight. ADX did not alter the recoil of saline-filled lungs but did slightly increase the recoil of air-filled lungs. We conclude that corticosteroid hormones influence the in vivo functioning of the surfactant system of adult rats, but this effect seems to be slight.
mesh_terms: D000315:Adrenalectomy; D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight / Q000187:drug effects; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000494:pharmacology; D008168:Lung / Q000032:analysis / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D008170:Lung Compliance; D008297:Male; D009929:Organ Size / Q000187:drug effects; D010713:Phosphatidylcholines / Q000032:analysis; D011650:Pulmonary Alveoli / Q000166:cytology; D011663:Pulmonary Surfactants / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D007507:Therapeutic Irrigation
chemical_list: D010713:Phosphatidylcholines; D011663:Pulmonary Surfactants; C017463:lecithins, disaturated; D006854:Hydrocortisone