Lung remodeling in aging surfactant protein D deficient mice

Pulmonary surfactant, a mixture of lipids and proteins at the air-liquid interface of alveoli, prevents the lungs from collapsing due to surface tension. One constituent is surfactant-associated protein-D (SP-D), a protein involved in surfactant homeostasis and innate immunity. Mice deficient in SP-D (SP-D (-/-)) has been described as developing a characteristic phenotype which affects the surfactant system (including changes in the intra-cellular and intra-alveolar surfactant pool, alveolar epithelial type II cells and alveolar macrophages), lung architecture and its inflammatory state (development of an emphysema-like pathology, inflammatory cell infiltration). Furthermore, it has been described that these mice develop sub-pleural fibrosis and a thickening of alveolar septal walls. The aim of the present study was to systematically investigate the long term progression of this phenotype with special focus on parenchymal remodeling, whether there are progressive emphysematous changes and whether there is progressive septal wall thickening which might indicate the development of pulmonary fibrosis. By means of design-based stereology and light microscopy, lungs of wild type (wt) and SP-D (-/-) mice of four age groups (3, 6, 12 and ∼18 months) were investigated. The data do not suggest a relevant spontaneous pro-fibrotic remodeling or a destructive process in the aging SP-D (-/-) mice. We demonstrated neither a significant destructive emphysema nor significant thickening of alveolar septal walls, but the data suggest an increase in the number weighted mean alveolar volume in aging SP-D (-/-) mice without loss of alveoli or alveolar epithelial surface area per lung. This increase may reflect over-distension due to altered mechanical properties of alveoli. In the light of our findings and data from the literature, the question arises as to whether a lack of SP-D promotes structural changes in the lung which have been described as being associated with aging lungs. Furthermore, data from wt mice point to an ongoing alveolarization during adult life in C57Bl/6NCrl mice. Our data may promote further studies on the morphological development of the aging lung and the role of SP-D in this process.