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Jakes's Project Page - RISE Summer 2008 |
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Intern: Jake Vestal, Chemical Engineering, South Carolina State University
Mentor: Siggie Steltenkamp
Faculty Supervisor: Joseph Zasadzinski
Department: Chemical Engineering |
THE ROLE OF CHOLESTEROL IN LUNG SURFACTANT
Lung surfactant (LS) is a complex collection of proteins and lipids found at the interface between air and the
pulmonary fluid that lines the inside surfaces of the alveoli in mammalian lungs. The vital functions of lung
surfactant are disrupted by Acute Respiratory Syndrome (ARDS), a condition in which serum proteins replace LS
molecules on the interface following acute trauma to the abdomen. No effective treatment for ARDS exists and the
crucial need for a synthetic LS-like preparation, able to restore function to serum-disabled LS, is of paramount
importance to the effort to lower the 30% mortality rate of this fatal condition. An important question in the design
of an ARDS treatment is weather cholesterol should be included. Although known to be present in mammalian
lungs, the role that cholesterol plays in functional LS is almost totally unknown. In this study, the effect of
cholesterol on bovine-derived LS was investigated with fluorescence microscopy, atomic force microscopy,
Wilhelmy-plate surface force measurements, and surface viscometry. The effect of cholesterol on the phase
behavior of LS during the breathing cycle is discussed, as well as the interactions between cholesterol and the
surfactant proteins crucial to normal LS function.
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