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Hugh L. Spitzer, PhD; Joe R. Norman, MD

Arch Intern Med. 1971;127(3):429-435.

Abstract
The pathways involved in the biosynthesis of lecithin have been studied in lung tissue. In vivo and in vitro data support the hypothesis that surfactant lecithin is synthesized in situ via the cytidine diphosphate (CDP)-choline pathway. The data turther suggest that the enzymes involved in methylation of phosphatidyl-ethanolamine to lecithin are not active. Also, the presence of phosphatidyl-N,N-dimethylethanolamine (PDME) in lung tissue cannot be attributed to bacterial contamination. The biological half-life for choline and palmitate incorporated into lecithin is 43 and 16 hours, respectively, the latter suggesting acyl exchange. The biological half-life of leucine incorporated into the protein of surfactant is 45 hours. The similarity in biological half-life for choline and leucine suggests that surfactant is a lipoprotein which turns over as a single unit.

Author Affiliations
Birmingham, Ala

From the Department of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary Diseases, University of Alabama School of Medicine, Birmingham. Dr. Norman is now with the Department of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary Diseases, University of Mississippi School of Medicine, Jackson.

Footnotes
Received for publication Oct 21, 1970; accepted Jan 22, 1971.

Read in part before the Tenth Annual Hanford Biology Symposium on Pollution and Lung Biochemistry, Richland, Wash, June 3, 1970, jointly sponsored by the Battelle Memorial Institute-Pacific Northwest Laboratories, National Air Pollution Control Administration, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, and the US Atomic Energy Commission.

Reprint requests to Department of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary Diseases, University of Alabama School of Medicine, Birmingham, Ala 35233 (Dr. Spitzer).

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