The International Week of Surfactant Research: Increasing knowledge about surfactant and unexploited opportunities

Daniele de Luca (1, 2) , Lhoussaine Touqui (3, 4)

1 Service de Pédiatrie et Réanimations néonatales [Béclère]
2 HPPIT - Hypertension pulmonaire : physiopathologie et innovation thérapeutique
3 CRSA - Centre de Recherche Saint-Antoine
4 Mucoviscidose et bronchopathies chroniques : biopathologie et phénotype cliniques - Cystic Fibrosis and Bronchial Diseases

Surfactant is not a new discovery in biology and medicine. In 1929, Neergard et al. suggested that physical properties of alveolar surface are an important factor that influences lung functions [1]. It quickly became clear that surfactant was constituted of a complex proteo-lipid mixture necessary to lower alveolar surface tension [Fig. 1]. Thus, surfactant replacement therapy for respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) due to its primary deficiency in preterm neonates was preclinically and clinically tested for the first time in 1972 and 1980, respectively [2,3]. At that time, RDS and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) were considered as the typical features of two different types of respiratory failures in neonates and adults, respectively.

Keywords: Surfactant; Research; ARDS; Lung

Domains: Pediatrics; Pulmonology and respiratory tract

Daniele de Luca, Lhoussaine Touqui. The International Week of Surfactant Research: Increasing knowledge about surfactant and unexploited opportunities. Biomedical journal, 2021, 44 (6), pp.651-653. ⟨10.1016/j.bj.2021.07.007⟩. ⟨hal-03335707v2⟩