The article below speaks the lack of vitamin E which is REQUIRED in order for
the body to produce lecithin .. lung surfactant.
Lung surfactant is depleted in ARDS

Free Radic Biol Med. 2003 Mar 15;34(6):663-73.  Related Articles, Links  

 
Vitamin E deficiency reduces surfactant lipid biosynthesis in alveolar type II
cells.

Guthmann F, Kolleck I, Schachtrup C, Schlame M, Spener F, Rustow B.

Clinic of Neonatology, Humboldt-Universitat zu Berlin, Charite Campus Mitte,
Berlin, Germany

Reactive oxygen species play an important role in development of lung injury.
Neonates exhibit a high risk of developing acute and/or chronic lung disorder,
often associated with surfactant deficiency, and in parallel they show low
vitamin E concentration. We investigated whether the vitamin E status of adult
rats affects the content of phospholipids (PL) in bronchoalveolar lavage and
alveolar type II cells. Phosphatidylcholine (PtdCho) is the dominant and
functional most important PL in lung surfactant. Therefore, we determined its
formation via de novo synthesis and reacylation of lyso-PtdCho in type II
cells. Vitamin E depletion caused a decrease of PL content in bronchoalveolar
lavage and type II cells and decreased glycerol-3-phosphate O-acyltransferase
(G3P-AT) activity, de novo synthesis of PtdCho, and reacylation of lyso-PtdCho
in type II cells. Preincubation of type II cell homogenates with dithiothreitol
restored the activity of G3P-AT and de novo synthesis but inhibited
reacylation. Reacylation was strongly reduced by chelerythrine-mediated
inhibition of protein kinase C. We conclude that antioxidant and PKC-modulating
properties of vitamin E regulate de novo synthesis of PtdCho and reacylation of
lyso-PtdCho in alveolar type II cells. Vitamin E depletion reduced the two
pathways of PL synthesis and caused a decrease of PL content in alveolar
surfactant of rats.

PMID: 12633743 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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