ABSTRACT
In view of the purpose of black foam films from pulmonary surfactants, it is widely accepted to name them biomedical foam films. Particular attention is paid to foam film applications for biomedical purposes. This chapter considers black foam films as a model to study alveolar stability and structure. Microscopic foam films have been studied by means of the microinterferometric technique that allows introducing new parameters and measuring new dependences characterizing alveolar surface structure and stability. A special method was introduced to study alveolar surface and stability, and a new diagnostic method was proposed for fetal lung maturity assessment. Respiratory Distress Syndrome treatment with animal-derived lung surfactant extracts, namely therapeutic pulmonary surfactants or therapeutic surfactant preparations, is largely applied. In inflammatory lung diseases, hydrolysis of surfactant phospholipids by phospholipase generates lysophospholipids. Such degradation cannot only deplete active surfactant lipids, but also releases products such as lysophosphatidylcholines and free fatty acids that are severe biophysical inhibitors of surfactant's activity.
