Data for: Sleeve Gastrectomy Ameliorates Alveolar Structures and Surfactant Protein Expression in Lungs of Obese and Diabetic Rats

Abstract
Background Bariatric surgeries have been shown to be effective in reversing damaged pulmonary function in individuals suffering from obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), whereas its underlying mechanisms remain largely unknown.
Methods Sleeve gastrectomy (SG) was performed on obese and diabetic Wistar rats and their pulmonary function and lung tissues were compared to sham (SH)-operated obese and diabetic rats and age-matched healthy controls (C) to explore the improvements in microstructures and expression of surfactant protein (SP)-A and -C at postoperative 4th, 8th and 12th week.
Result Apart from the profound metabolic changes and improvement in pulmonary function, lung volume was restored along with an improved diffusion capacity noted by thinned capillary basement membrane (CBM) and decreased harmonic mean length of diffusion barrier (τhb) in SG rats. The digital slices of light microscope (LM) showed the general changes brought on by the SG including normalized basic structures, ameliorated inflammatory status as well as reduced lipid deposition, where the hydroxyproline (HYP), triglyceride (TG) assays and electron microscope (EM) further suggested that the improvement in alveolar structures lies in reduced collagen fibers, lipids and septal tissues, increased capillary blood and normalized alveolar type 2 (AT2) cells. Besides, disrupted SP-A and SP-C expression were also normalized after SG.
Conclusion The improvement of lung function after SG is related to the ameliorated alveolar structures and surface protein expression induced by weight loss and improved glucose metabolism.