Maternal protein restriction during perinatal life affects lung mechanics and the surfactant system during early postnatal life in female rats.

Limited information is available on how fetal growth retardation (FGR) affects the lung in the neonatal period in males and females. This led us to test the hypothesis that FGR alters lung mechanics and the surfactant system during the neonatal period. To test this hypothesis a model of FGR was utilized in which pregnant rat dams were fed a low protein diet during both the gestation and lactation period. We subsequently analyzed lung mechanics using a FlexiVent ventilator in male and female pups at postnatal day 7 and 21. Lung lavage material was obtained at postnatal day 1, 7 and 21, and was used for analysis of the surfactant system which included measurement of the pool size of surfactant and its subfraction as well as the surface tension reducing ability of the surfactant. The main result of the study was a significantly lower lung compliance and higher tissue elastance which was observed in FGR female offspring at day 21 compared to control offspring. In addition, female LP offspring exhibited lower surfactant pool sizes at postnatal day 1compared to controls. These changes were not observed in the male offspring. It is concluded that FGR has a different impact on pulmonary function and on surfactant in female, as compared to male, offspring

Межфазный катализ: синтез гликозильных эфиров N-ацетилглюкозамина

В межфазной системе “твердое тело — органический растворитель” в присутствии каталитических количеств 15-краун-5 перацетат α-D-глюкозаминилхлорида легко образует гликозильные эфиры ряда карбоновых кислот. Полученные 1-0-β-ацилпиранозы идентифицированы с помощью ¹Н ЯМР спектроскопии.У міжфазній системі “тверде тіло — органічний розчинник” у присутності каталітичної кількості 15-краун-5 перацетат α-D-глюкозамінілхлориду легко утворює глікозильні естери ряду карбонових кислот. Отримані 1-O-β-ацилпіранози ідентифіковані за допомогою ¹Н ЯМР-спектроскопії.Peracetate of α-D-glucosaminyl chloride forms easily the N-acetylglucosamine glycosyl esters of the carboxylic acids range in the phase transfer system of “solid-organic solvent” in the presence of catalytic amounts of 15-crown-5. The structure of 1-O-β-acylpyranose synthesized was identified by ¹H NMR spectroscopy

Killing of Pseudomonas aeruginosa by chicken cathelicidin-2 is immunogenically silent, preventing lung inflammation in vivo

The development of antibiotic resistance by Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a major concern in the treatment of bacterial pneumonia. In the search of novel anti-infective therapies, the chicken-derived peptide cathelicidin-2 (CATH-2) has emerged as a potential candidate, with strong broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity and the ability to limit inflammation by inhibiting TLR2 and TLR4 activation. However, as it is unknown how CATH-2 affects inflammation in vivo, we investigated how CATH-2-mediated killing of P. aeruginosa affects lung inflammation in a murine model.First, murine macrophages were used to determine whether CATH-2-mediated killing of P. aeruginosa reduced pro-inflammatory cytokine production in vitro Next, a murine lung model was used to analyze how CATH-2-mediated killing of P. aeruginosa affects neutrophil and macrophage recruitment as well as cytokine/chemokine production in the lung.Our results show that CATH-2 kills P. aeruginosa in an immunogenically silent manner both in vitro and in vivo Treatment with CATH-2-killed P. aeruginosa showed reduced neutrophil recruitment to the lung as well as inhibition of cytokine and chemokine production, compared to treatment with heat- or gentamicin-killed bacteria.Together, these results show the potential for CATH-2 as a dual-activity antibiotic in bacterial pneumonia, which can both kill P. aeruginosa and prevent excessive inflammation

A ToF-SIMS study of the lateral organization of lipids and proteins in pulmonary surfactant systems

Pulmonary surfactant is a complex lipid-protein mixture whose main function is to reduce the surface tension at the air-liquid interface of alveoli to minimize the work of breathing. The exact mechanism by which surfactant monolayers and multilayers are formed and how they lower surface tension to very low values during lateral compression remains uncertain. We used time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry to study the lateral organization of lipids and peptide in surfactant preparations ranging in complexity. We show that we can successfully determine the location of phospholipids, cholesterol and a peptide in surfactant Langmuir-Blodgett films and we can determine the effect of cholesterol and peptide addition. A thorough understanding of the lateral organization of PS interfacial films will aid in our understanding of the role of each component as well as different lipid-lipid and lipid-protein interactions. This may further our understanding of pulmonary surfactant function. \ua9 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye