Thin liquid films as a model to study surfactant layers on the alveolar surface

Thin liquid films composed of usual surface-active substances have well-developed theory and variety of applications for a long time. Recently the accumulated knowledge on thin liquid films composed of lipid–protein mixture, lung surfactant, or its constituents has been successfully applied to a number of problems in biology and medicine, e.g. as a new and adequate model system for studying the structure, stability, molecular interactions and lateral mobility in the surfactant layer on the alveolar surface.