[The significance of the change of the subfractions in existence of the pulmonary surfactant in rabbits with smoke inhalation injury during early postburn stage].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the change of the subfractions in existence (big and small polymers) of pulmonary surfactant (PS) and their influence on the decrease in PS activity during early postburn stage.


METHODS
Forty rabbits were employed in the study and were randomly divided into pre-burn, 0.5 postburn hour (PBH), 2 PBH, 6 PBH and 12 PBH groups with 8 in each group. The BALF (bronchial alveolar lavage fluid) was harvested from each rabbit. The BALF samples were centrifuged, and the supernatant (small polymer) and precipitation (big polymer) were harvested for the determination of the contents of the total phospholipids, lecithin, total protein, and albumin in both polymers.


RESULTS
Compared with those in pre-burn group, the above chemical contents of PS in big polymer exhibited no change after burn (P > 0.05), but the contents of albumin and total protein increased obviously in small polymer (P < 0.01). In addition, all the contents in the small polymer increased with the elapse of time. The percentage of lecithin in total phospholipids in small polymers decreased along with the passage of time. The pre-burn contents of total phospholipids, lecithin, TP, albumin, and the percentage of lecithin in total phospholipid in small polymer were (2.23 +/- 0.40),(1.54 +/- 0.11), (16.67 +/- 1.34), (3.65 +/- 0.15) mg/ml and (77.2 +/- 3.7)%, respectively. The above indices in small polymer were (3.15 +/- 0.30), (1.77 +/- 0.08), (106.59 +/- 5.50), (11.21 +/- 0.92) mg/ml and (57.2 +/- 3.5)% respectively at 6PBH.


CONCLUSIONS
The ratio of small to big polymers increased obviously, which might be an important factor in inducing the decrease in PS activity during early postburn stage leading finally to pulmonary injury.
Zheng
Hua-fei
HF
Department of Burns and Cosmetology, Deyang People's Hospital, Deyang, 618000, P.R. China.
Liu
Zhi-yuan
ZY
Yang
Zong-cheng
ZC
D000418:Albumins / Q000032:analysis; D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D010713:Phosphatidylcholines / Q000032:analysis; D010743:Phospholipids / Q000032:analysis; D011663:Pulmonary Surfactants / Q000378:metabolism*; D011817:Rabbits; D015208:Smoke Inhalation Injury / Q000378:metabolism*
D000418:Albumins; D010713:Phosphatidylcholines; D010743:Phospholipids; D011663:Pulmonary Surfactants