Alveolar Surface Tension and Lung Surfactant

The sections in this article are: 1 Background 1.1 Early Contributors 1.2 Relevance of Alveolar Surface Film 1.3 Current Model of Lung Surfactant Action 2 Definition and Measurement of Surface Tension 2.1 Generation of Interfacial Tension 2.2 Methods 3 Adsorption and Spreading of Surfactant Films 3.1 Form of Surfactant 3.2 Factors Affecting Adsorption and Spreading 4 Properties of Films Related to Lung Surfactant 4.1 Low Surface Tension and Other Quasi-Static Film Properties 4.2 Dynamic Film Properties 5 Influence of Surface Tension on Lung Pressure-Volume Behavior 5.1 Static Properties 5.2 Dynamic Properties 6 Turnover and Recycling of Surfactant Components 6.1 Possible Recycling Paths 6.2 Local Monolayer Recycling 6.3 Extramonolayer Recycling Pathways 7 Summary of Lung Surfactant Properties 7.1 Rapid Adsorption and Spreading 7.2 Low Surface Tension When Film is Compressed 7.3 Stable Low Surface Tension 8 Future Considerations