Bacterial lipopolysaccharide promotes destabilization of lung surfactant-like films

The airspaces are lined with a dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC)-rich film called pulmonary surfactant, which is named for its ability to maintain normal respiratory mechanics by reducing surface tension at the air-liquid interface. Inhaled airborne particles containing bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) may incorporate into the surfactant monolayer. In this study, we evaluated the effect of smooth LPS (S-LPS), containing the entire core oligosaccharide region and the O-antigen, on the biophysical properties of lung surfactant-like films composed of either DPPC or DPPC/palmitoyloleoylphosphatidylglycerol (POPG)/palmitic acid (PA) (28:9:5.6, w/w/w). Our results show that low amounts of S-LPS fluidized DPPC monolayers, as demonstrated by fluorescence microscopy and changes in the compressibility modulus. This promoted early collapse and prevented the attainment of high surface pressures. These destabilizing effects could not be relieved by repeated compression-expansion cycles. Similar effects were observed with surfactant-like films composed of DPPC/POPG/PA. On the other hand, the interaction of SP-A, a surfactant membrane-associated alveolar protein that also binds to LPS, with surfactant-like films containing S-LPS increased monolayer destabilization due to the extraction of lipid molecules from the monolayer, leading to the dissolution of monolayer material in the aqueous subphase. This suggests that SP-A may act as an LPS scavenger.