title: Leptin integrates vertebrate evolution: from oxygen to the blood-gas barrier.
abstract: The following are the proceedings of a symposium held at the Second International Congress for Respiratory Science in Bad Honnef, Germany. The goals of the symposium were to delineate the blood-gas barrier phenotype across vertebrate species; to delineate the interrelationship between the evolution of the blood-gas barrier, locomotion and metabolism; to introduce the selection pressures for the evolution of the surfactant system as a key to understanding the physiology of the blood-gas barrier; to introduce the lung lipofibroblast and its product, leptin, which coordinately regulates pulmonary surfactant, type IV collagen in the basement membrane and host defense, as the cell-molecular site of selection pressure for the blood-gas barrier; to drill down to the gene regulatory network(s) involved in leptin signaling and the blood-gas barrier phenotype; to extend the relationship between leptin and the blood-gas barrier to diving mammals.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of California-Los Angeles, CA, USA. jtorday@labiomed.org
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Torday
authors.forename: F L
authors.initials: FL
authors.lastname: Powell
authors.forename: C G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Farmer
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Orgeig
authors.forename: H C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Nielsen
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Hall
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001485:Basement Membrane / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D005075:Biological Evolution; D015824:Blood-Air Barrier / Q000502:physiology*; D024141:Collagen Type IV / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D003226:Congresses as Topic; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D020738:Leptin / Q000502:physiology*; D008124:Locomotion / Q000502:physiology; D010100:Oxygen / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D011663:Pulmonary Surfactants / Q000378:metabolism; D012143:Respiratory Physiological Phenomena; D012137:Respiratory System / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D014714:Vertebrates / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D024141:Collagen Type IV; D020738:Leptin; D011663:Pulmonary Surfactants; D010100:Oxygen