Partial liquid ventilation (PLV) with perfluorochemical (PFC) is an experimental rescue therapy that improves gas exchange in many animal models of respiratory failure. While surface tension forces are low during PLV, the status of alveolar surfactant after PLV is unknown. This study investigated the effect of PLV on endogenous surfactant composition in healthy control rats and those with lung injury induced with human meconium (Mec). Adults rats were instilled with 0.1 ml of either normal saline (NS) or meconium slurry (4.3mg dry wt). Twenty four hours after instillation, animals were supported for 4 hours with either gas ventilation (GV) or PLV using PFC (FC-75, 3M, St. Paul, MN) at an FiO2 of 1.0. At the end of ventilation, the lungs were lavaged with saline. The cell free bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) was centrifuged to isolate large (L.Ag.) and small surfactant aggregates. The lung tissue and BAL fractions were analyzed for phospholipid (PL), disaturated phosphatidylcholine (DSPC), and surfactant protein B (SP-B) levels. Results for BAL are mean±SE of number of animals in parentheses (Table).

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The total PL, DSPC, and SP-B in lung tissue and BAL were not different after PLV in either the injured or healthy groups. These results indicate that PLV does not adversely affect surfactant phospholipid or protein levels.