Mechanisms of surface tension reduction by pulmonary surfactant

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Pulmonary surfactant is a material in the lung that allows people to breathe with minimal effort. This is evident in babies born prematurely which due to the lack of surfactant have trouble breathing. Our laboratory aims to understand how surfactant works. Although previous research has elucidated many general aspects of surfactant function, some technical limitations have prevented us from studying the details by which specific components contribute to surfactant function. ******In the current application we use a novel tool, the so-called constrained sessile drop surfactometer, to assess how surfactant works and how specific components contribute to its function. To assess the latter question, we will compare surfactants from different species that have different respiratory physiology. For example, we will compare surfactant from animals with a high breathing rate like mice and rats with surfactant from animals with a slow breathing rate like pigs and cows, and we will compare surfactant from animals that breathe at 5OC during hibernation to surfactant from animals that were breathing at 37oC animals. We will then make changes to the composition of the surfactant from those animals to observe if we can determine the components of the surfactant that are responsible for the animal-specific effects. For example, we will change the one of the ingredients of the surfactant from mice to the level observed in surfactant from cows and observe if the behavior of the surfactant changes accordingly. One specific component of surfactant that we will focus on is cholesterol, as it is still unclear how this compound, which is present in all surfactants analyzed from different species, contribute to the function of surfactant.******This research, which will be performed as part of the research training program for two new graduate students, will provide new scientific information on the function of pulmonary surfactant and help us understand how the lung works in different species with different breathing characteristics. *****