Pulmonary Surfactant

THE lung is as specifically adapted for its function as the brain, kidney or muscle. It is therefore surprising that only in the past several years have the special structural adaptations of the lung been investigated. One of the special components of lung, whose existence was only guessed at before 1955, is pulmonary surfactant. This component is now recognized as essential for normal lung function.In actively metabolizing higher mammals, the necessity for transport of large volumes of gas requires a lung providing an air-liquid interface of very large surface area. The required surface area (about 70 m2) is . . .