Alterations in pulmonary surfactant after rapid arousal from torpor in the marsupial Sminthopsis crassicaudata

1 Department of Physiology, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005; and 2 Respiratory Research Group, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 4N1 Torpor in the dunnart, Sminthopsis crassicaudata , alters surfactant lipid composition and surface activity. Here we investigated changes in surfactant composition and surface activity over 1 h after rapid arousal from torpor (15-30°C at 1°C/min). We measured total phospholipid (PL), disaturated PL (DSP), and cholesterol (Chol) content of surfactant lavage and surface activity (measured at both 15 and 37°C in the captive bubble surfactometer). Immediately after arousal, Chol decreased (from 4.1 ± 0.05 to 2.8 ± 0.3 mg/g dry lung) and reached warm-active levels by 60 min after arousal. The Chol/DSP and Chol/PL ratios both decreased to warm-active levels 5 min after arousal because PL, DSP, and the DSP/PL ratio remained elevated over the 60 min after arousal. Minimal surface tension and film compressibility at 17 mN/m at 37°C both decreased 5 min after arousal, correlating with rapid changes in surfactant Chol. Therefore, changes in lipids matched changes in surface activity during the postarousal period. phospholipids; cholesterol; surface activity; surface tension; temperature