Organization and developmental aspects of lymphatic vessels.

[lymphedemapeople]

Organization and developmental aspects of lymphatic vessels.

Arch Histol Cytol. 2008 Mar

Ohtani O, Ohtani Y.
Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine and Graduate School of
Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama.

The lymphatic system plays important roles in maintaining tissue fluid
homeostasis, immune surveillance of the body, and the taking up
dietary fat and fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K. The lymphatic
system is involved in many pathological conditions, including
lymphedema, inflammatory diseases, and tumor dissemination. A clear
understanding of the organization of the lymphatic vessels in normal
conditions would be critically important to develop new treatments for
diseases involving the lymphatic vascular system. Therefore, the
present paper reviews the organization of the lymphatic vascular
system of a variety of organs, including the thyroid gland, lung and
pleura, small intestine, cecum and colon in the rat, the diaphragm in
the rat, monkey, and human, Peyer's patches and the appendix in the
rabbit, and human tonsils. Methods employed include scanning electron
microscopy of lymphatic corrosion casts and tissues with or without
treatment of alkali maceration technique, transmission electron
microscopy of intact tissues, confocal microscopy in conjunction with
immunohistochemistry to some lymphatic-specific markers (i.e., LYVE-1
and VEGFR-3), and light microscopy in conjunction with enzyme-
histochemistry to 5'-nucleotidase. Some developmental aspects of the
lymphatic vessels and lymphedema are also discussed.

http://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/aohc/71/1/71_1/_article

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Pat O'Connor
Lymphedema People
http://www.lymphedemapeople.com