The Anionic Phospholipids of Bovine Pulmonary Surfactant

The biophysical function of pulmonary surfactant

The type II pneumocytes of the lungs secrete a mixture of lipids and proteins that together acts as a surfactant. The material forms a thin film on the surface of the liquid layer that lines the alveolar air sacks. When compressed by the decreasing alveolar surface area during exhalation, the films reduce surface tension to exceptionally low levels. Pulmonary surfactant is essential for preserving the integrity of the barrier between alveolar air and capillary blood during normal breathing. This review focuses on the major biophysical processes by which endogenous pulmonary surfactant achieves its function and the mechanisms involved in those processes. Vesicles of pulmonary surfactant adsorb rapidly from the alveolar liquid to form the interfacial film. Interfacial insertion, which requires the hydrophobic surfactant protein SP-B, proceeds by a process analogous to the fusion of two vesicles. When compressed, the adsorbed film desorbs slowly. Constituents remain at the surface at high interfacial concentrations that reduce surface tensions well below equilibrium levels. We review the models proposed to explain how pulmonary surfactant achieves both the rapid adsorption and slow desorption characteristic of a functional film.

The Role of Pulmonary Surfactant Phospholipids in Fibrotic Lung Diseases

Diffuse parenchymal lung diseases (DPLD) or Interstitial lung diseases (ILD) are a heterogeneous group of lung conditions with common characteristics that can progress to fibrosis. Within this group of pneumonias, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is considered the most common. This disease has no known cause, is devastating and has no cure. Chronic lesion of alveolar type II (ATII) cells represents a key mechanism for the development of IPF. ATII cells are specialized in the biosynthesis and secretion of pulmonary surfactant (PS), a lipid-protein complex that reduces surface tension and minimizes breathing effort. Some differences in PS composition have been reported between patients with idiopathic pulmonary disease and healthy individuals, especially regarding some specific proteins in the PS; however, few reports have been conducted on the lipid components. This review focuses on the mechanisms by which phospholipids (PLs) could be involved in the development of the fibroproliferative response.

Effects of cholesterol on the structure and collapse of DPPC monolayers

Cholesterol induces faster collapse by compressed films of pulmonary surfactant. Because collapse prevents films from reaching the high surface pressures achieved in the alveolus, most therapeutic surfactants remove or omit cholesterol. The studies here determined the structural changes by which cholesterol causes faster collapse by films of dipalmitoyl phosphatidylcholine, used as a simple model for the functional alveolar film. Measurements of isobaric collapse, with surface pressure held constant at 52 mN/m, showed that cholesterol had little effect until the mol fraction of cholesterol, Xchol, exceeded 0.20. Structural measurements of grazing incidence X-ray diffraction at ambient laboratory temperatures and a surface pressure of 44 mN/m, just below the onset of collapse, showed that the major structural change in an ordered phase occurred at lower Xchol. A centered rectangular unit cell with tilted chains converted to an untilted hexagonal structure over the range of Xchol = 0.0-0.1. For Xchol = 0.1-0.4, the ordered structure was nearly invariant; the hexagonal unit cell persisted, and the spacing of the chains was essentially unchanged. That invariance strongly suggests that above Xchol = 0.1, cholesterol partitions into a disordered phase, which coexists with the ordered domains. The phase rule requires that for a binary film with coexisting phases, the stoichiometries of the ordered and disordered regions must remain constant. Added cholesterol must increase the area of the disordered phase at the expense of the ordered regions. X-ray scattering from dipalmitoyl phosphatidylcholine/cholesterol fit with that prediction. The data also show a progressive decrease in the size of crystalline domains. Our results suggest that cholesterol promotes adsorption not by altering the unit cell of the ordered phase but by decreasing both its total area and the size of individual crystallites.

A recipe for a good clinical pulmonary surfactant

The lives of thousands premature babies have been saved along the last thirty years thanks to the establishment and consolidation of pulmonary surfactant replacement therapies (SRT). It took some time to close the gap between the identification of the biophysical and molecular causes of the high mortality associated with respiratory distress syndrome in very premature babies and the development of a proper therapy. Closing the gap required the elucidation of some key questions defining the structure–function relationships in surfactant as well as the particular role of the different molecular components assembled into the surfactant system. On the other hand, the application of SRT as part of treatments targeting other devastating respiratory pathologies, in babies and adults, is depending on further extensive research still required before enough amounts of good humanized clinical surfactants will be available. This review summarizes our current concepts on the compositional and structural determinants defining pulmonary surfactant activity, the principles behind the development of efficient natural animal-derived or recombinant or synthetic therapeutic surfactants, as well as a the most promising lines of research that are already opening new perspectives in the application of tailored surfactant therapies to treat important yet unresolved respiratory pathologies.

Suppression of Lα/Lβ Phase Coexistence in the Lipids of Pulmonary Surfactant

To determine how different constituents of pulmonary surfactant affect its phase behavior, we measured wide-angle x-ray scattering (WAXS) from oriented bilayers. Samples contained the nonpolar and phospholipids (N&PL) obtained from calf lung surfactant extract (CLSE), which also contains the hydrophobic surfactant proteins SP-B and SP-C. Mixtures with different ratios of N&PL and CLSE provided the same set of lipids with different amounts of the proteins. At 37°C, N&PL by itself forms coexisting L_α and L_β phases. In the L_β structure, the acyl chains of the phospholipids occupy an ordered array that has melted by 40°C. This behavior suggests that the L_β composition is dominated by dipalmitoyl phosphatidylcholine (DPPC), which is the most prevalent component of CLSE. The L_β chains, however, lack the tilt of the L_β' phase formed by pure DPPC. At 40°C, WAXS also detects an additional diffracted intensity, the location of which suggests a correlation among the phospholipid headgroups. The mixed samples of N&PL with CLSE show that increasing amounts of the proteins disrupt both the L_β phase and the headgroup correlation. With physiological levels of the proteins in CLSE, both types of order are absent. These results with bilayers at physiological temperatures indicate that the hydrophobic surfactant proteins disrupt the ordered structures that have long been considered essential for the ability of pulmonary surfactant to sustain low surface tensions. They agree with prior fluorescence micrographic results from monomolecular films of CLSE, suggesting that at physiological temperatures, any ordered phase is likely to be absent or occupy a minimal interfacial area.

Location of the Hydrophobic Surfactant Proteins, SP-B and SP-C, in Fluid-Phase Bilayers

The hydrophobic surfactant proteins, SP-B and SP-C, promote rapid adsorption by the surfactant lipids to the surface of the liquid that lines the alveolar air sacks of the lungs. To gain insights into the mechanisms of their function, we used X-ray diffuse scattering (XDS) and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to determine the location of SP-B and SP-C within phospholipid bilayers. Initial samples contained the surfactant lipids from extracted calf surfactant with increasing doses of the proteins. XDS located protein density near the phospholipid headgroup and in the hydrocarbon core, presumed to be SP-B and SP-C, respectively. Measurements on dioleoylphosphatidylcholine (DOPC) with the proteins produced similar results. MD simulations of the proteins with DOPC provided molecular detail and allowed direct comparison of the experimental and simulated results. Simulations used conformations of SP-B based on other members of the saposin-like family, which form either open or closed V-shaped structures. For SP-C, the amino acid sequence suggests a partial α-helix. Simulations fit best with measurements of XDS for closed SP-B, which occurred at the membrane surface, and SP-C oriented along the hydrophobic interior. Our results provide the most definitive evidence yet concerning the location and orientation of the hydrophobic surfactant proteins.