mt9b00623_si_010.mp4 (7.69 MB)
Irremovable Blood Stain in Lung: Air-to-Interface Transport of Albumin and Its Mechanical Response to Biaxial Compression/Expansion
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posted on 2019-11-19, 15:06 authored by Hyun-Ro Lee, Sujin Park, Siyoung Q. ChoiSerum proteins are believed to trigger a sudden failure
of lung
function, but to date the mechanism remains elusive. Most studies
have focused on the transport of the proteins from the subphase to
the lung surfactant interface, although the opposite direction of
transport, i.e., from air-to-interface, could be equally important.
Here, we report that physiological concentrations of serum droplets
can rapidly form a film upon exposure to air, and the entire film
can be transferred to the lung surfactant interface upon coalescence,
displacing it. This film was mechanically stable and remains intact
even for multiple biaxial compression/expansion cycles. Our findings
provide a mechanism of lung surfactant replacement by serum proteins
that is fundamentally different from the subphase-to-interface transport
and demonstrate that it is nearly impossible to remove the film from
the interface where the lung surfactant should be, thus impairing
the lung in a permanent way.