Question

An expectant mother of twins has been told there is a strong chance that she will go into labour early and her babies will be premature. in order to increase the chances of having healthy infants, she is given a dose of steroids to stimulate the production of surfactant in the infants' lungs. surfactant is important for survival of the babies because it reduces:

Answer 1

Surfactant is important for survival of the babies because it reduces surface tension in the lungs which allows an ease of lung inflation. This substance is being produced in the lungs of the baby that is unborn approximately during week 20 and it increases during week 30. It is a substance containing fats and four type of surfactants namely proteins SP-A, SP-D, SP-B and SP-C. It would function to prevent the malfunctioning of the alveoli by the reduction of the effort that is needed to enlarge or expand the lungs during breathing. It helps the unborn baby to effortlessly breath.