Relation Between Shear Viscosity and Morphology in Lung Surfactant Monolayer

Abstract The primary function of lung surfactant monolayers (LS) is to control and reduce surface tension in the lung permitting easy breathing. to do this, the monolayer must maintain coverage of the entire lung surface during the rapid surface area changes which accompany breathing. We use a magnetic needle viscometer and optical microscopy to determine the relationship between monolayer shear viscosity, which controls its two-dimensional flow properties, and synthetic lung surfactant composition. We show that, within a specific range, palmitic acid interacts with DPPC/POPG to make lung surfactant rigid at low surface tension (or high surface pressure) and fluid at high surface tension. This enables the monolayer to attain near zero surface tensions during compression yet respread easily at high surface tension More palmitic acid makes the monolayer more rigid and eventually increases the collapse surface tension while reducing the readsorption rate at high surface tension.