Antibiotic lung surfactants :The Scientist [16/5/2003]

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by Tudor P Toma

RESEARCH ROUND-UP

Antibiotic lung surfactants

Email: Tudor P Toma - t.toma@imperial.ac.uk
News from The Scientist 2003, 4(1):20030516-01

Published

16 May 2003

Surfactants are detergent-like substances in the lungs that dramatically lower the surface tension of the fluid within the air sacs. Particles—including infectious microbes—locate to the distal airspaces during each breath, but the role of surfactants in rapid bacterial clearance in the alveoli has been unclear. In the May 15 Journal of Clinical Investigation, Huixing Wu and colleagues at the University of Cincinnati show that surfactant associated proteins A and D (SP-A, SP-D—also known as collectins) inhibit the growth of Gram-negative bacteria by increasing membrane permeability (Journal of Clinical Investigation, 111:1589-1602, May 15, 2003).


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