Influence of surfactant protein C on the interfacial behavior of phosphatidylethanolamine monolayers.

In the current work we study with monolayer tensiometry and Brewster angle microscopy (BAM) the surface properties of Dipalmitoleoylphosphatidylethanolamine (DPoPE) films at the air/water interface in presence and absence of specific surfactant protein C (SP-C). DPoPE is used, as it readily forms both lamellar (L(alpha)) and non-lamellar inverted hexagonal (H(II)) phases and appears as a suitable model phospholipid for probing the interfacial properties of distinct lipid phases. At pure air/water interface L(alpha) shows faster adsorption and better surface disintegration than H(II) phase.