Correlations of Mechanical Stability, Morphology, Pulmonary Surfactant, and Phospholipid Content in the Developing Lamb Lung

George W. Brumley; Victor Chernick; W. Alan Hodson; Colin Normand; Axel Fenner; Mary Ellen Avery

doi:10.1172/JCI105586

Department of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and the Harriet Lane Service of the Children's Medical and Surgical Center of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Md.

†

Address requests for reprints to Dr. Marry Ellen Avery, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Md. 21205.

Submitted for publication July 26, 1966; accepted February 2, 1967.

This work was supported in part by U. S. Public Health Service grants HD 00281-07 and 2 F 11-NB-1212-02.

Presented in part, American Physiological Society, April 15, 1966, and abstracted in Fed. Proc. 1966, 25, 565.

Find articles by Brumley, G. in: PubMed | Google Scholar

Department of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and the Harriet Lane Service of the Children's Medical and Surgical Center of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Md.

†

Address requests for reprints to Dr. Marry Ellen Avery, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Md. 21205.

Submitted for publication July 26, 1966; accepted February 2, 1967.

This work was supported in part by U. S. Public Health Service grants HD 00281-07 and 2 F 11-NB-1212-02.

Presented in part, American Physiological Society, April 15, 1966, and abstracted in Fed. Proc. 1966, 25, 565.

Find articles by Chernick, V. in: PubMed | Google Scholar

Department of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and the Harriet Lane Service of the Children's Medical and Surgical Center of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Md.

†

Address requests for reprints to Dr. Marry Ellen Avery, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Md. 21205.

Submitted for publication July 26, 1966; accepted February 2, 1967.

This work was supported in part by U. S. Public Health Service grants HD 00281-07 and 2 F 11-NB-1212-02.

Presented in part, American Physiological Society, April 15, 1966, and abstracted in Fed. Proc. 1966, 25, 565.

Find articles by Hodson, W. in: PubMed | Google Scholar

Department of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and the Harriet Lane Service of the Children's Medical and Surgical Center of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Md.

†

Address requests for reprints to Dr. Marry Ellen Avery, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Md. 21205.

Submitted for publication July 26, 1966; accepted February 2, 1967.

This work was supported in part by U. S. Public Health Service grants HD 00281-07 and 2 F 11-NB-1212-02.

Presented in part, American Physiological Society, April 15, 1966, and abstracted in Fed. Proc. 1966, 25, 565.

Find articles by Normand, C. in: PubMed | Google Scholar

Department of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and the Harriet Lane Service of the Children's Medical and Surgical Center of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Md.

†

Address requests for reprints to Dr. Marry Ellen Avery, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Md. 21205.

Submitted for publication July 26, 1966; accepted February 2, 1967.

This work was supported in part by U. S. Public Health Service grants HD 00281-07 and 2 F 11-NB-1212-02.

Presented in part, American Physiological Society, April 15, 1966, and abstracted in Fed. Proc. 1966, 25, 565.

Find articles by Fenner, A. in: PubMed | Google Scholar

Department of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and the Harriet Lane Service of the Children's Medical and Surgical Center of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Md.

†

Address requests for reprints to Dr. Marry Ellen Avery, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Md. 21205.

Submitted for publication July 26, 1966; accepted February 2, 1967.

This work was supported in part by U. S. Public Health Service grants HD 00281-07 and 2 F 11-NB-1212-02.

Presented in part, American Physiological Society, April 15, 1966, and abstracted in Fed. Proc. 1966, 25, 565.

Find articles by Avery, M. in: PubMed | Google Scholar

Published in Volume 46, Issue 5 on May 1, 1967
J Clin Invest. 1967;46(5):863–873. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI105586.
© 1967 The American Society for Clinical Investigation

Published May 1, 1967 - Version history

Pressure-volume characteristics and surface tension measurements of the lamb of 120 to 130 days gestational age were typical of the mature lung in the upper lobes and the immature lung in the lower lobes. By term both upper and lower lobes had findings characteristic of the mature animal.

Phospholipid concentration per milligram DNA and per cent saturated fatty acids on pulmonary phosphatidyl choline were relatively constant from 60 to 120 days gestational age; thereafter there was a significant increase in both measurements. These changes usually coincided with an increase in osmiophilic inclusion bodies in the large alveolar cell.

A concentration of disaturated phosphatidyl choline per milligram DNA in excess of 0.170 mg per mg was associated with a minimal surface tension below 13 dynes per cm (p < 0.001). Newborn animal lungs contained over 3 times this critical concentration, whereas adult lungs contained 1.5 times this value. The excess disaturated phosphatidyl choline per milligram DNA may represent a reservoir of pulmonary surfactant.

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