Am. J. Respir. Cell Mol. Biol., Volume 25, Number 6, December, 2001 725-731

Phosphatidylcholine Molecular Species in Lung Surfactant
Composition in Relation to Respiratory Rate and Lung Development

Wolfgang Bernhard, Simone Hoffmann, Heike Dombrowsky, Gunnar A. Rau, Andrea Kamlage, Martin Kappler, Jack J. Haitsma, Joachim Freihorst, Horst von der Hardt, and Christian F. Poets

Departments of Pediatric Pulmonology and Neonatology and of Biometrics, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany; and Department of Anesthesiology, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Surfactant reduces surface tension at the air-liquid interface of lung alveoli. While dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (PC16:0/ 16:0) is its main component, proteins and other phospholipids contribute to the dynamic properties and homeostasis of alveolar surfactant. Among these components are significant amounts of palmitoylmyristoylphosphatidylcholine (PC16:0/ 14:0) and palmitoylpalmitoleoylphosphatidylcholine (PC16:0/ 16:1), whereas in surfactant from the rigid tubular bird lung, PC16:0/14:0 is absent and PC16:0/16:1 strongly diminished. We therefore hypothesized that the concentrations of PC16:0/14:0 and PC16:0/16:1 in surfactants correlate with differences in the respiratory physiology of mammalian species. In surfactants from newborn and adult mice, rats, and pigs, molar fractions of PC16:0/14:0 and PC16:0/16:1 correlated with respiratory rate. Labeling experiments with [methyl-³H]choline in mice and perfused rat lungs demonstrated identical alveolar proportions of total and newly synthesized PC16:0/14:0, PC16:0/16:1, and PC16:0/16:0, which were much higher than those of other phosphatidylcholine species. In surfactant from human term and preterm neonates, fractional concentrations not only of PC16:0/16:0 but also of PC16:0/14:0 and PC16:0/ 16:1 increased with maturation. Our data emphasize that PC16:0/14:0 and PC16:0/16:1 may be important surfactant components in alveolar lungs, and that their concentrations are adapted to respiratory physiology.

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