Correlation of Mechanical Properties of Infant Lungs with Surface Activity of Extracts.

Effects of gestation and prenatal asphyxia on pulmonary surface properties of the foetal rabbit*

“…Figure 4 shows the air retained at low pressures as a proportion of total lung volume in terms of L (eqn. (1)), the index of Gruenwald, Johnson, Hustead & Clements (1962 Bubble-stability ratio. The mean difference in S.R.…”

Biochemical Development of Surface Activity in Mammalian Lung. IV. Pulmonary Lecithin Synthesis in the Human Fetus and Newborn and Etiology of the Respiratory Distress Syndrome

“…In normal lung, alveoli are lined with a surface-active complex containing the phospholipid lecithin, its principal component. The lining stabilizes alveoli by lowering surface tension on expiration, thus preventing alveolar collapse, but is lacking in lungs from infants dying of the idiopathic respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) [3,6,23].…”

“…Investigations of human pulmonary phospholipids were conducted at autopsy on lungs from infants with and without RDS, including surface activity [3,6,8,11,23], quantitative estimations [3,8,11], and acyl esters of lecithin [8]. Necessarily, these studies were static owing to the impossibilities of studying living humans with techniques used on laboratory animals.…”

The Enzymes of Lecithin Biosynthesis in Human Neonatal Lungs. IV. Phosphorylcholine Cytidyltransferase

“…Lecithin is a major component of lung alveolar surfactant (8,20,22,24), and a relationship between lung surfactant and neonatal respiratory distress has been established (1,4,9,10,12,15). Lung surfactant activity accompanies increased lecithin biosynthesis in the developing fetus of several species (13,14,28), and lung extracts from infants dying of respiratory distress with alveolar hyaline membranes have abnormal surface active properties (1 5, 20).…”