biology

Pulmonary surfactant (medication)

Pulmonary surfactant (medication) is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Pulmonary surfactant (medication) rather than just read about it. In short: Pulmonary surfactant is used as a medication to treat and prevent respiratory distress syndrome in newborn babies. Prevention is generally done in babies born at a gestational age of less than 32 weeks.

Key takeaways

Pulmonary surfactant (medication) belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Pulmonary surfactant (medication) to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Pulmonary surfactant (medication) from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Pulmonary surfactant is used as a medication to treat and prevent respiratory distress syndrome in newborn babies. Prevention is generally done in babies born at a gestational age of less than 32 weeks. It is given by the endotracheal tube. Onset of effects is rapid. A number of doses may be needed. Side effects may include slow heart rate and low oxygen levels. Its use is also linked with intracranial bleeding. Pulmonary surfactant may be isolated from the lungs of cows or pigs or made artificially. Pulmonary surfactant was discovered in the 1950s and a manufactured version was approved for medical use in the United States in 1990. It is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines.

Medical uses Pulmonary surfactant is used to treat and prevent respiratory distress syndrome in newborn babies. Prevention is generally done in babies born less than 32 weeks gestational age. Tentative evidence supports use in drowning. Surfactant administration can also be effective in meconium aspiration syndrome where it has been shown to help lower length of stay.

Types

There are a number of types of pulmonary surfactants available. Like their natural counterparts, pulmonary surfactant preparations consist of phospholipids (mainly DPPC) combined with spreading agents such as SP-B and SP-C. Ex-situ measurements of surface tension and interfacial rheology can help to understand the functionality of pulmonary surfactants. Synthetic pulmonary surfactants:

Colfosceril palmitate (Exosurf) – a mixture of DPPC with hexadecanol and tyloxapol added as spreading agents Pumactant (Artificial Lung Expanding Compound or ALEC) – a mixture of DPPC and PG Lucinactant (KL4, trade name Surfaxin) – composed of DPPC, palmitoyl-oleoyl phosphatidylglycerol, and palmitic acid, combined with a 21 amino acid synthetic peptide (sinapultide) that mimics the C-terminal helical domain of SP-B. Ventricute - DPPC, rSP-C Animal-derived surfactants:

Beractant (Survanta) – extracted from minced cow lung with additional DPPC, palmitic acid and tripalmitin, manufactured by Abbvie (Beraksurf) – extracted from minced cow lung with additional DPPC, palmitic acid and tripalmitin, manufactured by Tekzima Calfactant (Infasurf) – extracted from calf lung lavage fluid, manufactured by ONY Biotech. Poractant alfa (Curosurf) – extracted from material derived from minced pig lung Surfactant TA (Surfacten) – derived from cows, manufactured by Tokyo Tanabe Co. Bovactant SF-RI (Alveofact) – extracted from cow lung lavage fluid, manufactured by Boehringer Ingelheim

History Researcher John Clements identified surfactants and their role in the 1950s. Mary Ellen Avery soon after showed that the lungs of premature infants could not produce surfactants. The first artificial pulmonary surfactant for neonates was developed by Japanese pediatrician Tetsurō Fujiwara in 1979. Exosurf, Curosurf, Infasurf, and Survanta were the initial surfactants approved for use in the US. In 2012, the US Food and Drug Administration approved an additional synthetic surfactant, lucinactant (Surfaxin).

Research Surfactant may be beneficial in those with COVID-19 associated acute respiratory distress syndrome.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Pulmonary surfactant (medication)

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Pulmonary surfactant (medication) claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Pulmonary surfactant (medication) before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Pulmonary surfactant (medication) ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Pulmonary surfactant (medication)

In research: Pulmonary surfactant (medication) appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Pulmonary surfactant (medication) in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Pulmonary surfactant (medication) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics World Health Organization essential medicines, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Pulmonary surfactant (medication) outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Pulmonary surfactant (medication) in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Pulmonary surfactant (medication) means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Pulmonary surfactant (medication) out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Pulmonary surfactant (medication) in simple terms?

Why does Pulmonary surfactant (medication) matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Pulmonary surfactant (medication)?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Pulmonary surfactant (medication).