Surfactant in Pulmonary Disease

Abstract

THOUGH Neergaard pointed out thirty-five years ago¹ that the properties of pulmonary alveolar surfaces must influence the function of the lungs and Macklin² suggested more than ten years ago that certain alveolar epithelial cells may regulate these properties, their proposals received little attention. More recently it was deduced³ from the behavior of microscopic bubbles removed from the lungs that the alveoli are lined with a substance that greatly reduces surface tension, and the presence of such material (surfactant) in saline extracts of normal lungs was directly demonstrated.⁴ Subsequently, it was shown that extracts prepared from the lungs of infants dying . . .