Structural characterization of the monolayer-multilayer transition in a pulmonary surfactant model: IR studies of films transferred at continuously varying surface pressures

Pulmonary surfactant: a unique biomaterial with life-saving therapeutic applications

Pulmonary surfactant is a complex lipoprotein mixture secreted into the alveolar lumen by type 2 pneumocytes, which is composed by tens of different lipids (approximately 90% of its entire mass) and surfactant proteins (approximately 10% of the mass). It is crucially involved in maintaining lung homeostasis by reducing the values of alveolar liquid surface tension close to zero at end-expiration, thereby avoiding the alveolar collapse, and assembling a chemical and physical barrier against inhaled pathogens. A deficient amount of surfactant or its functional inactivation is directly linked to a wide range of lung pathologies, including the neonatal respiratory distress syndrome. This paper reviews the main biophysical concepts of surfactant activity and its inactivation mechanisms, and describes the past, present and future roles of surfactant replacement therapy, focusing on the exogenous surfactant preparations marketed worldwide and new formulations under development. The closing section describes the pulmonary surfactant in the context of drug delivery. Thanks to its peculiar composition, biocompatibility, and alveolar spreading capability, the surfactant may work not only as a shuttle to the branched anatomy of the lung for other drugs but also as a modulator for their release, opening to innovative therapeutic avenues for the treatment of several respiratory diseases.

Probing Interfacial Structure and Dynamics of Model and Natural Asphaltenes at Fluid-Fluid Interfaces

Asphaltenes are largely responsible for crude oil interfacial behavior. Due to their complex molecular nature, studying connections between interfacial properties and molecular structure is challenging, and these connections remain unclear. Several groups have reported on the interfacial behavior of asphaltenes, but a unified picture of both interfacial dynamics and thermodynamics is still missing. We seek to establish connections between asphaltene interfacial morphology and interfacial dynamics by combining interfacial dilatational deformation with microscopic structural imaging analysis. Understanding the behavior of natural asphaltene samples is made difficult by the inherent molecular variability. Therefore, we have also studied the behavior of an asphaltene model compound to draw fundamental structure-property relationships. This work contains simultaneous interfacial deformation and microscopy in systems of natural and model asphaltenes at air-water and decane-water interfaces. How the dynamics of natural asphaltenes influences the morphological and thermodynamic state of the air-water and decane-water interfaces is discussed based on the deviations observed between isotropic and anisotropic deformations. Areas where model asphaltenes can help us to understand the behavior of natural asphaltenes are identified such as its high surface pressure activity and aggregation character. An aggregation mechanism for model and natural asphaltenes is proposed based on an observed relationship between microscopic and millimetric aggregates.

Multilayering of Surfactant Systems at the Air-Dilute Aqueous Solution Interface

In the last 15 years there have been a number of observations of surfactants adsorbed at the air-water interface with structures more complicated than the expected single monolayer. These observations, mostly made by neutron or X-ray reflectivity, show structures varying from the usual monolayer to monolayer plus one or two additional bilayers to multilayer adsorption at the surface. These observations have been assembled in this article with a view to finding some common features between the very different systems and to relating them to aspects of the bulk solution phase behavior. It is argued that multilayering is primarily associated with wetting or prewetting of the air-water interface by phases in the bulk system, whose structures depend on an overall attractive force between the constituent units. Two such phases, whose formation is assumed to be partially driven by strong specific ion binding, are a concentrated lamellar phase that forms at low concentrations and a swollen lamellar phase that is not space-filling. Multilayering phenomena at the air-water interface then offer a delicate and easy means of studying the finer details of the incompletely understood attraction that leads to these two phases, as well as an interesting new means of self-assembling surface structures. In addition, multilayering is often associated with unusual wetting characteristics. Examples of systems discussed, and in some cases their bulk phase behavior, include surfactants with multivalent metal counterions, surfactants with oligomers and polymers, surfactant with hydrophobin, dichain surfactants, lung surfactant, and the unusual system of ethanolamine and stearic acid. Two situations where the air-water surface is deliberately held out of equilibrium are also assessed for features in common with the steady-state/equilibrium observations.

Composition, structure and mechanical properties define performance of pulmonary surfactant membranes and films

The respiratory surface in the mammalian lung is stabilized by pulmonary surfactant, a membrane-based system composed of multiple lipids and specific proteins, the primary function of which is to minimize the surface tension at the alveolar air-liquid interface, optimizing the mechanics of breathing and avoiding alveolar collapse, especially at the end of expiration. The goal of the present review is to summarize current knowledge regarding the structure, lipid-protein interactions and mechanical features of surfactant membranes and films and how these properties correlate with surfactant biological function inside the lungs. Surfactant mechanical properties can be severely compromised by different agents, which lead to surfactant inhibition and ultimately contributes to the development of pulmonary disorders and pathologies in newborns, children and adults. A detailed comprehension of the unique mechanical and rheological properties of surfactant layers is crucial for the diagnostics and treatment of lung diseases, either by analyzing the contribution of surfactant impairment to the pathophysiology or by improving the formulations in surfactant replacement therapies. Finally, a short review is also included on the most relevant experimental techniques currently employed to evaluate lung surfactant mechanics, rheology, and inhibition and reactivation processes.

Oleic acid disorders stratum corneum lipids in Langmuir monolayers

Oleic acid (OA) is well-known to affect the function of the skin barrier. In this study, the molecular interactions between OA and model stratum corneum (SC) lipids consisting of ceramide, cholesterol, and palmitic acid (PA) were investigated with Langmuir monolayer and associated techniques. Mixtures with different OA/SC lipid compositions were spread at the air/water interface, and the phase behavior was tracked with surface pressure-molecular area (π-A) isotherms. With increasing OA levels in the monolayer, the films became more fluid and more compressible. The thermodynamic parameters derived from π-A isotherms indicated that there are preferential interactions between OA and SC lipids and that films of their mixtures were thermodynamically stable. The domain structure and lipid conformational order of the monolayers were studied through Brewster angle microscopy (BAM) and infrared reflection absorption spectroscopy (IRRAS), respectively. Results indicate that lower concentrations of OA preferentially mix with and disorder the ceramide-enriched domains, followed by perturbation of the PA-enriched domains and disruption of SC lipid domain separation at higher OA levels.

A modified squeeze-out mechanism for generating high surface pressures with pulmonary surfactant

The exact mechanism by which pulmonary surfactant films reach the very low surface tensions required to stabilize the alveoli at end expiration remains uncertain. We utilized the nanoscale sensitivity of atomic force microscopy (AFM) to examine phospholipid (PL) phase transition and multilayer formation for two Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) systems: a simple 3 PL surfactant-like mixture and the more complex bovine lipid extract surfactant (BLES). AFM height images demonstrated that both systems develop two types of liquid condensed (LC) domains (micro- and nano-sized) within a liquid expanded phase (LE). The 3 PL mixture failed to form significant multilayers at high surface pressure (π while BLES forms an extensive network of multilayer structures containing up to three bilayers. A close examination of the progression of multilayer formation reveals that multilayers start to form at the edge of the solid-like LC domains and also in the fluid-like LE phase. We used the elemental analysis capability of time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) to show that multilayer structures are enriched in unsaturated PLs while the saturated PLs are concentrated in the remaining interfacial monolayer. This supports a modified squeeze-out model where film compression results in the hydrophobic surfactant protein-dependent formation of unsaturated PL-rich multilayers which remain functionally associated with a monolayer enriched in disaturated PL species. This allows the surface film to attain low surface tensions during compression and maintain values near equilibrium during expansion.

Pulmonary surfactant pathophysiology: current models and open questions

Pulmonary surfactant is an essential lipid-protein complex that stabilizes the respiratory units (alveoli) involved in gas exchange. Quantitative or qualitative derangements in surfactant are associated with severe respiratory pathologies. The integrated regulation of surfactant synthesis, secretion, and metabolism is critical for air breathing and, ultimately, survival. The goal of this review is to summarize our current understanding and highlight important knowledge gaps in surfactant homeostatic mechanisms.

Physicochemical studies on the interaction of serum albumin with pulmonary surfactant extract in films and bulk bilayer phase

Functionality, structure and composition of the adsorbed films of bovine lipid extract surfactant (BLES), in the absence and presence of bovine serum albumin (BSA), at the air-buffer interface was characterized through surface tension, atomic force microscopy and time of flight secondary ion mass spectrometric methods. Gel and fluid domains of BLES films were found to be altered significantly in the presence of BSA. Differential scanning calorimetric studies on BLES dispersions in presence of BSA revealed that the perturbations of the lipid bilayer structures were significant only at higher amount of BSA. FTIR studies on the BLES dispersions in buffer solution revealed that BSA could affect the lipid head-group hydrations in bilayer as well as the methylene and methyl vibration modes of fatty acyl chains of the phospholipids present in BLES. Serum albumin could perturb the film structure at pathophysiological concentration while higher amount of BSA was required in perturbing the bilayer structures. The studies suggest a connected perturbed bilayer to monolayer transition model for surfactant inactivation at the alveolar-air interface in dysfunctional surfactants.

Molecular dynamics study of the electric and dielectric properties of model DPPC and dicaprin insoluble monolayers: size effect

Atomistic modeling of insoluble monolayers is currently used to inspect their organization and electric characteristics, providing a link between theory and experiment. Extensive molecular dynamics simulations at 300 K were carried out for model films of the lipids dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) and dicaprin (DC) at the air/water interface. Surface concentrations corresponding to a set of points along the surface pressure/area isotherms of the surfactants were considered. The models contained 25 or 81 lipid molecules in hexagonal arrangement and explicit aqueous media (TIP3P) treated in periodic boundary conditions. Molecular dynamics simulations based on a classical force field (CHARMM27) were carried out and key characteristics of the studied films were estimated. The dielectric properties of the films in normal and tangential direction were quantified by means of dipole moment magnitude and orientation analysis and by monolayer dielectric permittivity. The contributions of lipids and interfacial water to each component of the considered characteristics were assessed and their variations upon film compression were discussed and compared for the two monolayers and to earlier results. The dielectric permittivity tensors were analyzed. Electrostatic potential profiles across the layers and surface pressure values were used for more detailed clarification of experimental measurements. The results show dissimilar behavior of the two lipids at the air-water interface. While the average electric and dielectric properties of DPPC monolayers result from opposite surfactant and water contributions, the two subsystems are synergetic in the DC films. The anisotropy of the monolayer dipole moment and dielectric permittivity is explained by domination of a different subsystem in the various components. Tangential characteristics turn out to be more sensitive to the size of the model and to the degree of film compression.

Structural aspects of lipid monolayers: computer simulation analyses

Extensive molecular dynamics simulations at room temperature were carried out for model films of two dissimilar lipids (DPPC and dicaprin) at the air/water interface. To study the peculiarities of the organization patterns at different average areas per molecule, surface concentrations corresponding to five almost equally spaced points along the isotherms of the two surfactants were considered. A variable of prime interest was the density distribution in a direction normal to the interface of the monolayer components: interfacial water and surfactant on one hand and the separate moieties of the lipids on the other hand. The packing pattern and cluster size dispersion were studied by means of Voronoi tessellation and radial distribution functions. Speculations regarding structural changes upon phase-state changes during film compression were made. Individual characteristics for surfactant heads and tails as well as for interfacial water were outlined and related to the available experimental data. An analysis of the diffusion coefficients revealed the limiting factors for lipid lateral and normal diffusion. Structural arguments in support of changes in monolayer dielectric properties with the area per molecule were provided.

Taking advantage of electrostatic interactions to grow Langmuir-Blodgett films containing multilayers of the phospholipid dipalmitoylphosphatidylglycerol

The use of phospholipids as mimetic systems for studies involving the cell membrane is a well-known approach. In this context, the Langmuir and Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) methods are among the main techniques used to produce ordered layers of phospholipids structured as mono- or bilayers on water subphase and solid substrates. However, the difficulties of producing multilayer LB films of phospholipids restrict the application of this technique depending on the sensitivity of the experimental analysis to be conducted. Here, an alternative approach is used to produce LB films containing multilayers of the negative phospholipid dipalmitoylphosphatidylglycerol (DPPG). Inspired by the electrostatic layer-by-layer (LbL) technique, DPPG multilayer LB films were produced by transferring the DPPG Langmuir monolayers from the water subphase containing low concentrations of the cationic polyelectrolyte poly(allylamine hydrochloride) (PAH) onto solid substrates. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) absorption spectroscopy revealed that the interactions between the NH(3)(+) (PAH) and PO(4)(-) (DPPG) groups might be the main driving forces that allow growth of these LB films. Besides, ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) absorption spectroscopy showed that the multilayer LB films can be grown in a controlled way in terms of thickness at nanometer scale. Cyclic voltammetry showed that DPPG and PAH are more packed in the LB than LbL films. The latter finding is related to the distinct molecular architecture of the films since DPPG is structured as monolayers in the LB films and multilamellar vesicles in the LbL films. Despite the interaction with PAH, cyclic voltammetry also showed that DPPG retains its biological activity in LB films, which is a key factor since this makes DPPG a suitable material in sensing applications. Therefore, multilayer LB films were deposited onto Pt interdigitated electrodes forming sensing units, which were applied in the detection of a phenothiazine compound [methylene blue (MB)] using impedance spectroscopy. The performance of DPPG in single-layer and multilayer LB films was compared to the performance of sensing unities composed of DPPG in single-layer and multilayer LbL films, showing the importance of both the thickness and the molecular architecture of the thin films. As found in a previous work for LbL films, the high sensitivity reached by these sensing units is intimately related to changes in the morphology of the film as evidenced by the micro-Raman technique. Finally, the interaction between MB and the (DPPG+PAH) LB films was complemented by pi-A isotherms and surface-enhanced resonance Raman scattering (SERRS).