Functions
- Binding of pathogens, allergens, and other molecules
- Increasing phagocytosis and chemotaxis of alveolar macrophages
- Induction of proliferation of immune cells
- Stimulation of proinflammatory cytokine production
- Modulation of the generation of reactive oxygen species
- Serving as a hormone in parturition
- Maintaining the structure of tubular myelin (an extracellular form of surfactant)
Read more about this topic: Pulmonary Surfactant-associated Protein A1
Famous quotes containing the word functions:
“One of the most highly valued functions of used parents these days is to be the villains of their children’s lives, the people the child blames for any shortcomings or disappointments. But if your identity comes from your parents’ failings, then you remain forever a member of the child generation, stuck and unable to move on to an adulthood in which you identify yourself in terms of what you do, not what has been done to you.”
—Frank Pittman (20th century)
“Those things which now most engage the attention of men, as politics and the daily routine, are, it is true, vital functions of human society, but should be unconsciously performed, like the corresponding functions of the physical body.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Adolescents, for all their self-involvement, are emerging from the self-centeredness of childhood. Their perception of other people has more depth. They are better equipped at appreciating others’ reasons for action, or the basis of others’ emotions. But this maturity functions in a piecemeal fashion. They show more understanding of their friends, but not of their teachers.”
—Terri Apter (20th century)