Precursor-product relationship between rabbit type II cell lamellar bodies and alveolar surface-active material. Surfactant turnover time.

To estimate the turnover time of alveolar surfactant in New Zealand white rabbits, we injected [9,10-(3)H] palmitic acid and [2-(14)C] glycerol intravenously. From 1-48 h after injection, wer killed the animals, lavaged the lungs for alveolar surfactant with saline, and isolated the lamellar bodies by homogenization and sucrose density gradient centrifugation. Lamellar bodies and alveola surfactant had comparable phospholipid composition and surface activity. Lamellar bodies contained little DNA, no mitochondrial enzyme activity and less than 5% contaminating phospholipids from microsomal and Golgi-enriched fractions. We measured radioactivity of phosphatidylcholine, saturated phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylglycerol for each isotope in lamellar bodies and surfactant at each time point. The plot of the integral with respect to time of the difference between lamellar body and surfactant specific activity against surfactant specific activity has a slope determined by the turnover time, and a shape which tests the precision of the precursor-product relationship. This analysis does not assume a pulse label and allows for possible recycling of tracer from surfactant to lamellar bodies. We obtained turnover times of 4-11 h. We detected an imprecise precursor-product relationship between lamellar bodies and alveolar surfactant, which is not due to experimental variability or to contamination of lamellar bodies by other subcellular fractions but may reflect imperfect mixing within surfactant compartments.