title: Influence of serum protein and albumin addition on the structure and activity of an exogenous pulmonary surfactant.
abstract: The comparative analysis of the deleterious action of albumin and total serum proteins (SP) might help to understand the nature of the interaction surfactant--SP. This study evaluated the effects of serum proteins and albumin on bulk shear viscosity, surface tension, surface area reduction, and the ratio between the light and heavy subtypes of surfactant suspensions. Our results showed a correlation between the bulk viscosity and aggregation degree of surfactant suspensions. The addition of albumin or SP induced the transformation from the heavy to the light subtype, reducing the viscosity. SP caused disaggregation and inactivation, whereas albumin caused only disaggregation without loss of surface activity. When SP were removed, the heavy fraction obtained recovered its surface activity. We conclude that the disaggregation may not be the primary cause for the loss of surface activity. Surfactant inactivation by a serum component, different from albumin, would be probably due to a physical interaction, a phenomenon that is reversed when SP are removed.
authors.affiliation: Cátedra de Física, Departamento de Fisicomatemática, Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina. marga@ffyb.uba.ar
authors.forename: María
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Martínez Sarrasague
authors.forename: Alejandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cimato
authors.forename: Emilio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rubin de Celis
authors.forename: Graciela
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Facorro
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001798:Blood Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D002417:Cattle; D006801:Humans; D011663:Pulmonary Surfactants / Q000737:chemistry*; D012709:Serum Albumin / Q000737:chemistry*; D013500:Surface Tension; D014783:Viscosity
chemical_list: D001798:Blood Proteins; D011663:Pulmonary Surfactants; D012709:Serum Albumin