Biology of surfactant.
Surfactant is a metabolically active assembly of phospholipids and surfactant-specific proteins that is essential for normal lung mechanics. The surfactant proteins SP-A and SP-D also have important innate host defense functions. Surfactant metabolism in the developing lung differs from the adult lung by having slower kinetics of secretion with a longer half-life and more efficient recycling. Ventilation styles that injure the lung also result in altered surfactant function.
Jobe
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AH
Division of Pulmonary Biology, Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. jobea0@chmcc.org
Ikegami
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M
D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008168:Lung / Q000502:physiology; D011663:Pulmonary Surfactants / Q000502:physiology*; D012119:Respiration; D012127:Respiratory Distress Syndrome, Newborn / Q000503:physiopathology
D011663:Pulmonary Surfactants