Adrenalectomy and surfactant in adult rats.
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.
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
D010713:Phosphatidylcholines; D011663:Pulmonary Surfactants; C017463:lecithins, disaturated; D006854:Hydrocortisone