New studies of a liquid of life -- Lung ...( He continued As with any natural...),Health

"These concerns have led to the study of synthetic lung surfactant formulations for which composition can be better defined," said Zasadzinski. "Mixtures containing synthetic lung surfactant lipids with highly purified natural proteins such as SP-B and SP-C have been shown to be of comparable or better activity than many natural extracts. However, a fundamental rationale for choosing the ratio of lipids to proteins for such mixtures is still lacking."

"Furthermore, lung surfactant proteins are difficult and expensive to obtain in a highly purified form and there does not yet exist a suitable host-vector system for the large-scale production of SP-B through genetic engineering techniques (which is a common problem for surface-active proteins), although production of recombinant human SP-C has begun," said Zasadzinski.

"There are also continuing efforts to replace the proteins by simpler peptides or polymers, with variable success," he said.

He continued, "Although the mortality rate for infants with neonatal respiratory distress syndrome has been declining since the advent of successful surfactant replacement strategies, the incidence of low birth weight infants has been steadily rising. The availability of standardized replacement formulations with a fully-quantified mechanism of action could lead to a more widespread use of surfactant replacement therapy to help save the lives of both infants and adults."

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Contact: Gail Brown
gbrown@instadv.ucsb.edu
805-893-7220
University of California - Santa Barbara
22-Aug-1999