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Table 3 Surfactant abnormalities seen in clinical studies of ARDS/ALI patients

From: Clinical review: Exogenous surfactant therapy for acute lung injury/acute respiratory distress syndrome - where do we go from here?

Surfactant characteristic

Abnormalities in ALI/ARDS

Surface activity

Reduced surface tension

Phospholipid profile

Reduced levels and fractional concentrations of phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylglycerol with increase in fractional concentrations of phosphatidylinositol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylserine and sphingomyelin

Phosphatidylcholine composition

Reduced levels and fractional concentrations of dipalmitoyl phosphatidylcholine with increased fractional concentration of unsaturated species

Surfactant aggregates

Reduced proportion of large aggregates to small aggregates

Surfactant proteins

Decreased alveolar surfactant proteins and increased plasma surfactant proteins

  1. ALI, acute lung injury; ARDS, acute respiratory distress syndrome.
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Critical Care

ISSN: 1364-8535