Preliminary identification of the lung surfactant system.

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Abstract
Dog and rabbit lung extracts were prepared by 3 different methods in which blood contamination was a variable factor. Each crude extract was fractionated by passage through a Sephadex G-200 column. The fractions were studied on a surface tension balance and analyzed, by qualitative methods, for protein, lipid, and carbohydrate. One fraction contained the lipids and carbohydrates of the lung, but no protein, and was recovered in relatively high concentration regardless of the basic extraction method used. Two fractions were derived primarily from the blood contaminating the crude extract. Each of these fractions was surface active (relatively low tensions on compression and separation of the compression and expansion isotherms), but none reproduced exactly the surface behavior of the original extract. The lung surfactant system was a complex mixture of lecithin, in highest concentration, plus other phospholipids and neutral lipids and, in addition, complex polysaccharides. The possibility that the lung system contained a surfactant other than the phospholipids could not be ruled out. The presence of a surfactant in blood was suggested also by these studies.

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