Morphometric and biochemical changes in lungs of growing rats treated with a calmodulin antagonist

To determine the role of calmodulin in postnatal lung growth and development, 4-week-old rats were injected intraperitoneally on consecutive days with trifluoperazine (TFP), a potent and specific calmodulin antagonist, for a period fo 3 weeks and studied in comparison with normal controls and undernourished weight-matched animals. TFP treatment resulted in stunting of lung growth such that observed normal increments in morphometrically determined total number of alveoli and alveolar surface area and in biochemically determined DNA, elastin, and collagen contents of the lungs were diminished in comparison with age-matched normal controls. However, the TFP treatment also resulted in reduced daily food intake and body weight gain. In the TFP group, lung weight and lung volume were also reduced compared with the weight-matched control group. This resulted in reduced alveolar surface area, total number of alveoli, DNA, collagen, and elastin in the TFP group compared with values in the weight-matched controls. Thus the TFP-induced lung changes were not due to inanition and/or reduced somatic growth. The TFP treatment resulted in reduced activities of calmodulin and cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP)-phosphodiesterase in the lungs of the animals, independent of their nutritional status. Based on these findings, we suggest that calmodulin may be an important regulatory component of postnatal lung growth and development.