The highly packed and dehydrated structure of pre-formed unexposed human pulmonary surfactant isolated from amniotic fluid

Author(s):  
José Carlos Castillo-Sánchez ◽  
Nuria Roldán ◽  
Begoña García-Álvarez ◽  
Emma Batllori ◽  
Alberto Galindo ◽  
...  

By coating the alveolar air-liquid interface, lung surfactant overwhelms surface tension forces that, otherwise, would hinder the lifetime effort of breathing. Years of research have provided a picture of how highly hydrophobic and specialized proteins in surfactant promote rapid and efficient formation of phospholipid-based complex three-dimensional films at the respiratory surface, highly stable under the demanding breathing mechanics. However, recent evidence suggest that the structure and performance of surfactant typically isolated from bronchoalveolar lung lavages may be far from that of nascent, still unused, surfactant as freshly secreted by type II pneumocytes into the alveolar airspaces. In the present work, we report the isolation of lung surfactant from human amniotic fluid (amniotic fluid surfactant, AFS) and a detailed description of its composition, structure and surface activity in comparison to a natural surfactant (NS) purified from porcine bronchoalveolar lavages. We observe that the lipid/protein complexes in AFS exhibit a substantially higher lipid packing and dehydration than in NS. AFS shows melting transitions at higher temperatures than NS and a conspicuous presence of non-lamellar phases. The surface activity of AFS is not only comparable to that of NS under physiologically-meaningful conditions, but displays significantly higher resistance to inhibition by serum or meconium, agents that inactivate surfactant in the context of severe respiratory pathologies. We propose that AFS may be the optimal model to study the molecular mechanisms sustaining pulmonary surfactant performance in health and disease, and the reference material to develop improved therapeutic surfactant preparations to treat yet unresolved respiratory pathologies.

1998 ◽  
Vol 84 (1) ◽  
pp. 146-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olga V. Lopatko ◽  
Sandra Orgeig ◽  
Christopher B. Daniels ◽  
David Palmer

Lopatko, Olga V., Sandra Orgeig, Christopher B. Daniels, and David Palmer. Alterations in the surface properties of lung surfactant in the torpid marsupial Sminthopsis crassicaudata. J. Appl. Physiol. 84(1): 146–156, 1998.—Torpor changes the composition of pulmonary surfactant (PS) in the dunnart Sminthopsis crassicaudata [C. Langman, S. Orgeig, and C. B. Daniels. Am. J. Physiol. 271 ( Regulatory Integrative Comp. Physiol. 40): R437–R445, 1996]. Here we investigated the surface activity of PS in vitro. Five micrograms of phospholipid per centimeter squared surface area of whole lavage (from mice or from warm-active, 4-, or 8-h torpid dunnarts) were applied dropwise onto the subphase of a Wilhelmy-Langmuir balance at 20°C and stabilized for 20 min. After 4 h of torpor, the adsorption rate increased, and equilibrium surface tension (STeq), minimal surface tension (STmin), and the %area compression required to achieve STmin decreased, compared with the warm-active group. After 8 h of torpor, STmin decreased [from 5.2 ± 0.3 to 4.1 ± 0.3 (SE) mN/m]; %area compression required to achieve STmindecreased (from 43.4 ± 1.0 to 27.4 ± 0.8); the rate of adsorption decreased; and STeqincreased (from 26.3 ± 0.5 to 38.6 ± 1.3 mN/m). ST-area isotherms of warm-active dunnarts and mice at 20°C had a shoulder on compression and a plateau on expansion. These disappeared on the isotherms of torpid dunnarts. Samples of whole lavage (from warm-active and 8-h torpor groups) containing 100 μg phospholipid/ml were studied by using a captive-bubble surfactometer at 37°C. After 8 h of torpor, STmin increased (from 6.4 ± 0.3 to 9.1 ± 0.3 mN/m) and %area compression decreased in the 2nd (from 88.6 ± 1.7 to 82.1 ± 2.0) and 3rd (from 89.1 ± 0.8 to 84.9 ± 1.8) compression-expansion cycles, compared with warm-active dunnarts. ST-area isotherms of warm-active dunnarts at 37°C did not have a shoulder on compression. This shoulder appeared on the isotherms of torpid dunnarts. In conclusion, there is a strong correlation between in vitro changes in surface activity and in vivo changes in lipid composition of PS during torpor, although static lung compliance remained unchanged (see Langman et al. cited above). Surfactant from torpid animals is more active at 20°C and less active at 37°C than that of warm-active animals, which may represent a respiratory adaptation to low body temperatures of torpid dunnarts.


1994 ◽  
Vol 267 (5) ◽  
pp. L618-L624 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Gunther ◽  
M. Kalinowski ◽  
A. Elssner ◽  
W. Seeger

Polymerization of fibrin in the presence of pulmonary surfactant was recently noted to induce incorporation of phospholipids into the insoluble clot material, thereby effecting severe loss of surface activity (W. Seeger, A. Elssner, A. Gunther, H.-J. Kramer, and H. O. Kalinowski. Am. J. Respir. Cell Mol. Biol. 9: 213'220, 1993). In the present study, we investigated the influence of such incorporation of calf lung surfactant extract (CLSE) on the enzymatic cleavage of the fibrin network with the use of plasmin, trypsin, or elastase. Employing a fibrin-plate assay, the proteolytic release of radioactivity originating from 125I-labeled fibrinogen was assessed, and the pattern of split products was characterized by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis technique. Surface activity of CLSE was measured in the pulsating bubble surfactometer. When incorporated into the fibrin clot, CLSE inhibited the cleavage of fibrin by all proteases in a dose-dependent manner without affecting the profile of scission products. Inhibition of plasmin-induced clot lysis was also noted on incorporation of CLSE into clotted plasma and on incorporation of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine into fibrin polymers. In contrast, corresponding concentrations of CLSE added to the incubation medium after preformation of the fibrin matrix did not substantially influence the kinetics of fibrinolysis. CLSE incorporation into the nascent fibrin clot resulted in complete loss of surface activity, but adsorption and surface tension-lowering properties were largely restored by subsequent plasmic clot lysis. Arising fibrin split products were shown to display similar inhibitory strength on CLSE surface activity compared with fibrinogen split products.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS


1999 ◽  
Vol 86 (6) ◽  
pp. 1778-1784 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tsutomu Kobayashi ◽  
Keisuke Ohta ◽  
Katsumi Tashiro ◽  
Kazuo Nishizuka ◽  
Wei-Min Chen ◽  
...  

We examined the effect of dextran (molecular weight 71,000) in counteracting the surfactant inhibitory action of plasma albumin. The surface adsorption time of 0.5 mg/ml modified natural surfactant (MNS; porcine lung extract consisting of phospholipids and hydrophobic surfactant proteins) with 7.5 mg/ml albumin decreased from 681 to 143 s by addition of dextran at a concentration of 10 mg/ml ( P < 0.01). The minimum surface tension of 2.0 mg/ml MNS with 30 mg/ml albumin decreased from over 21 mN/m to below 3 mN/m when dextran was added at a concentration of 10 mg/ml ( P < 0.01). Surfactant-deficient newborn rabbits given 10 ml/kg of a liquid containing 2.0 mg/ml MNS with 30 mg/ml albumin had a mean tidal volume ≤5 ml/kg after 5 min of mechanical ventilation, but, in those animals given the liquid containing 10 mg/ml dextran also, the volume was >13 ml/kg ( P < 0.05). Although the underlying mechanism remains to be elucidated, we conclude that dextran restores the albumin-inhibited surface activity of MNS.


1999 ◽  
Vol 82 (08) ◽  
pp. 277-282 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuri Veklich ◽  
Jean-Philippe Collet ◽  
Charles Francis ◽  
John W. Weisel

IntroductionMuch is known about the fibrinolytic system that converts fibrin-bound plasminogen to the active protease, plasmin, using plasminogen activators, such as tissue-type plasminogen activator (t-PA) and urokinase-type plasminogen activator. Plasmin then cleaves fibrin at specific sites and generates soluble fragments, many of which have been characterized, providing the basis for a molecular model of the polypeptide chain degradation.1-3 Soluble degradation products of fibrin have also been characterized by transmission electron microscopy, yielding a model for their structure.4 Moreover, high resolution, three-dimensional structures of certain fibrinogen fragments has provided a wealth of information that may be useful in understanding how various proteins bind to fibrin and the overall process of fibrinolysis (Doolittle, this volume).5,6 Both the rate of fibrinolysis and the structures of soluble derivatives are determined in part by the fibrin network structure itself. Furthermore, the activation of plasminogen by t-PA is accelerated by the conversion of fibrinogen to fibrin, and this reaction is also affected by the structure of the fibrin. For example, clots made of thin fibers have a decreased rate of conversion of plasminogen to plasmin by t-PA, and they generally are lysed more slowly than clots composed of thick fibers.7-9 Under other conditions, however, clots made of thin fibers may be lysed more rapidly.10 In addition, fibrin clots composed of abnormally thin fibers formed from certain dysfibrinogens display decreased plasminogen binding and a lower rate of fibrinolysis.11-13 Therefore, our increasing knowledge of various dysfibrinogenemias will aid our understanding of mechanisms of fibrinolysis (Matsuda, this volume).14,15 To account for these diverse observations and more fully understand the molecular basis of fibrinolysis, more knowledge of the physical changes in the fibrin matrix that precede solubilization is required. In this report, we summarize recent experiments utilizing transmission and scanning electron microscopy and confocal light microscopy to provide information about the structural changes occurring in polymerized fibrin during fibrinolysis. Many of the results of these experiments were unexpected and suggest some aspects of potential molecular mechanisms of fibrinolysis, which will also be described here.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Wu Xin ◽  
Qiu Daping

The inheritance and innovation of ancient architecture decoration art is an important way for the development of the construction industry. The data process of traditional ancient architecture decoration art is relatively backward, which leads to the obvious distortion of the digitalization of ancient architecture decoration art. In order to improve the digital effect of ancient architecture decoration art, based on neural network, this paper combines the image features to construct a neural network-based ancient architecture decoration art data system model, and graphically expresses the static construction mode and dynamic construction process of the architecture group. Based on this, three-dimensional model reconstruction and scene simulation experiments of architecture groups are realized. In order to verify the performance effect of the system proposed in this paper, it is verified through simulation and performance testing, and data visualization is performed through statistical methods. The result of the study shows that the digitalization effect of the ancient architecture decoration art proposed in this paper is good.


2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 187-211
Author(s):  
Patricia E. Chu

The Paris avant-garde milieu from which both Cirque Calder/Calder's Circus and Painlevé’s early films emerged was a cultural intersection of art and the twentieth-century life sciences. In turning to the style of current scientific journals, the Paris surrealists can be understood as engaging the (life) sciences not simply as a provider of normative categories of materiality to be dismissed, but as a companion in apprehending the “reality” of a world beneath the surface just as real as the one visible to the naked eye. I will focus in this essay on two modernist practices in new media in the context of the history of the life sciences: Jean Painlevé’s (1902–1989) science films and Alexander Calder's (1898–1976) work in three-dimensional moving art and performance—the Circus. In analyzing Painlevé’s work, I discuss it as exemplary of a moment when life sciences and avant-garde technical methods and philosophies created each other rather than being classified as separate categories of epistemological work. In moving from Painlevé’s films to Alexander Calder's Circus, Painlevé’s cinematography remains at the forefront; I use his film of one of Calder's performances of the Circus, a collaboration the men had taken two decades to complete. Painlevé’s depiction allows us to see the elements of Calder's work that mark it as akin to Painlevé’s own interest in a modern experimental organicism as central to the so-called machine-age. Calder's work can be understood as similarly developing an avant-garde practice along the line between the bestiary of the natural historian and the bestiary of the modern life scientist.


2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 2897-2908
Author(s):  
Mohammed S.Aljohani

Tomography is a non-invasive, non-intrusive imaging technique allowing the visualization of phase dynamics in industrial and biological processes. This article reviews progress in Electrical Capacitance Volume Tomography (ECVT). ECVT is a direct 3D visualizing technique, unlike three-dimensional imaging, which is based on stacking 2D images to obtain an interpolated 3D image. ECVT has recently matured for real time, non-invasive 3-D monitoring of processes involving materials with strong contrast in dielectric permittivity. In this article, ECVT sensor design, optimization and performance of various sensors seen in literature are summarized. Qualitative Analysis of ECVT image reconstruction techniques has also been presented.


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