The surfactant system protects both fetus and newborn.

Surfactant complex and its individual components decrease surface tension, silence inflammatory responses, bind and destroy air-borne microbes, facilitate phagocytosis by alveolar macrophages and bind endogenous and exogenous molecules. Surfactant components generally decrease harmful inflammatory responses. New exogenous surfactants and new indications for surfactant therapy remain to be studied. At term the pool of human surfactant from developing airways extends to the amniotic cavity and to the gastrointestinal tract. Preterm labor-inducing inflammatory ligands (interleukin-1 or lipopolysaccharide) cause a robust induction of surfactant complex and lower the risk of respiratory distress syndrome (RDS). The effect of antenatal glucocorticoid therapy is complementary. According to transgenic experiments or genetic evidence in humans, surfactant proteins A, D or C (SP-A, SP-D, SP-C), expressed in fetal tissue, influence the onset of term or preterm labor. After birth, the surface tension-reducing and the inflammation-silencing effects of exogenous and endogenous surfactant are complementary. Surfactant proteins influence the genetic predisposition of RDS, bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) and airway infections in early infancy. Moderate to severe BPD has a strong genetic predisposition. Deleterious mutations of SP-B, ABCA3 or SP-C cause congenital interstitial lung disease that mimics the phenotype of established severe BPD. I propose that lung surfactant protects both the fetus and the newborn. Surfactant ameliorates inflammatory responses that are harmful to the mother, fetus and infant. In chorioamnionitis, inflammatory ligands are carried from the fetal membranes to the alveolar space via amniotic fluid and developing airways. They induce surfactant synthesis and secretion. Surfactant ameliorates severe inflammatory responses in fetal compartments and promotes spontaneous preterm birth.