Unhappy Puppies

Your lungs are made of millions of tiny ‘balloons’, encased in a single layer of cells rather than stretchy rubber. These microscopic spherical structures, called alveoli, are connected by a delicate network of branching tubes that allow air to penetrate all the way through the lungs. Because the alveoli are so fragile, they have to be kept lubricated with a mixture of fat and proteins (surfactant) to prevent the thin walls collapsing every time we breathe out. Rare genetic conditions can occasionally lead to babies being born with no surfactant in their lungs – often a fatal situation. A similar condition has now been found in Airedale Terrier puppies, causing abnormal structures in the lungs (top row) compared with their healthy litter mates (bottom). Knowing more about the gene responsible could not only help save babies born with this life-threatening condition but could enable breeders to prevent their dogs from suffering too.

Written by Kat Arney

Kat Arney

Writer

Dr Kat Arney is an award-winning science writer, broadcaster and public speaker, and is the founder and Creative Director of First Create The Media.

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• Image adapted from work by Kati J. Dillard and colleagues
• Department of Veterinary Biosciences, University of Helsinki, and Veterinary Bacteriology and Pathology Research Unit, Finnish Food Authority, Helsinki, Finland
• Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
• Published in PLOS Genetics, March 2020