title: Regulation of lung surfactant phospholipid synthesis and metabolism.
abstract: The alveolar type II epithelial (ATII) cell is highly specialised for the synthesis and storage, in intracellular lamellar bodies, of phospholipid destined for secretion as pulmonary surfactant into the alveolus. Regulation of the enzymology of surfactant phospholipid synthesis and metabolism has been extensively characterised at both molecular and functional levels, but understanding of surfactant phospholipid metabolism in vivo in either healthy or, especially, diseased lungs is still relatively poorly understood. This review will integrate recent advances in the enzymology of surfactant phospholipid metabolism with metabolic studies in vivo in both experimental animals and human subjects. It will highlight developments in the application of stable isotope-labelled precursor substrates and mass spectrometry to probe lung phospholipid metabolism in terms of individual molecular lipid species and identify areas where a more comprehensive metabolic model would have considerable potential for direct application to disease states.
authors.affiliation: Southampton Centre for Biomedical Research, NIHR Respiratory Biomedical Research Unit, University Hospitals Southampton, UK.
authors.forename: Victoria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Goss
authors.forename: Alan N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Hunt
authors.forename: Anthony D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Postle
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D010743:Phospholipids / Q000378:metabolism*; D011663:Pulmonary Surfactants / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D010743:Phospholipids; D011663:Pulmonary Surfactants