Molecular and cellular processing of lung surfactant 1

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Abstract
Pulmonary surfactant, a complex material that lines the alveolar surface of the lung, is synthesized in the type II pneumocyte. Surfactant consists largely of phospholipids, of which phosphatidylcholine is by far the most abundant component, and is mainly responsible for surface activity. Surfactant also contains four unique proteins, surfactant protein (SP)-A, SP-B, SP-C, and SP-D, which are synthesized in a lung-specific manner. SP-A and SP-D are glycoproteins (M(r) approximately 30,000-40,000) whereas SP-B and SP-C are small (M(r) approximately 5,000-18,000), extremely hydrophobic proteolipids released from large precursors by proteolysis. Synthesis of surfactant lipids and proteins is developmentally regulated in fetal lung and can be accelerated by glucocorticoids and other hormones. Developing fetal lung in vivo and in organ culture has been used extensively to study regulation of surfactant synthesis and gene expression. Glucocorticoids stimulate the rate of fetal lung phosphatidylcholine biosynthe...

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