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The lymphatic vascular system: much more than just a sewer

Almost 400 years after the (re)discovery of the lymphatic vascular system (LVS) by Gaspare Aselli (Asellius G. De lactibus, sive lacteis venis, quarto vasorum mesaraicorum genere, novo invento Gasparis Asellii Cremo. Dissertatio. (MDCXXIIX), Milan; 1628.), structure, function, development and evolut...

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Autores principales: Wilting, Jörg, Becker, Jürgen
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9476376/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36109802
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13578-022-00898-0
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author Wilting, Jörg
Becker, Jürgen
author_facet Wilting, Jörg
Becker, Jürgen
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description Almost 400 years after the (re)discovery of the lymphatic vascular system (LVS) by Gaspare Aselli (Asellius G. De lactibus, sive lacteis venis, quarto vasorum mesaraicorum genere, novo invento Gasparis Asellii Cremo. Dissertatio. (MDCXXIIX), Milan; 1628.), structure, function, development and evolution of this so-called ‘second’ vascular system are still enigmatic. Interest in the LVS was low because it was (and is) hardly visible, and its diseases are not as life-threatening as those of the blood vascular system. It is not uncommon for patients with lymphedema to be told that yes, they can live with it. Usually, the functions of the LVS are discussed in terms of fluid homeostasis, uptake of chylomicrons from the gut, and immune cell circulation. However, the broad molecular equipment of lymphatic endothelial cells suggests that they possess many more functions, which are also reflected in the pathophysiology of the system. With some specific exceptions, lymphatics develop in all organs. Although basic structure and function are the same regardless their position in the body wall or the internal organs, there are important site-specific characteristics. We discuss common structure and function of lymphatics; and point to important functions for hyaluronan turn-over, salt balance, coagulation, extracellular matrix production, adipose tissue development and potential appetite regulation, and the influence of hypoxia on the regulation of these functions. Differences with respect to the embryonic origin and molecular equipment between somatic and splanchnic lymphatics are discussed with a side-view on the phylogeny of the LVS. The functions of the lymphatic vasculature are much broader than generally thought, and lymphatic research will have many interesting and surprising aspects to offer in the future.
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spelling pubmed-94763762022-09-16 The lymphatic vascular system: much more than just a sewer Wilting, Jörg Becker, Jürgen Cell Biosci Review Almost 400 years after the (re)discovery of the lymphatic vascular system (LVS) by Gaspare Aselli (Asellius G. De lactibus, sive lacteis venis, quarto vasorum mesaraicorum genere, novo invento Gasparis Asellii Cremo. Dissertatio. (MDCXXIIX), Milan; 1628.), structure, function, development and evolution of this so-called ‘second’ vascular system are still enigmatic. Interest in the LVS was low because it was (and is) hardly visible, and its diseases are not as life-threatening as those of the blood vascular system. It is not uncommon for patients with lymphedema to be told that yes, they can live with it. Usually, the functions of the LVS are discussed in terms of fluid homeostasis, uptake of chylomicrons from the gut, and immune cell circulation. However, the broad molecular equipment of lymphatic endothelial cells suggests that they possess many more functions, which are also reflected in the pathophysiology of the system. With some specific exceptions, lymphatics develop in all organs. Although basic structure and function are the same regardless their position in the body wall or the internal organs, there are important site-specific characteristics. We discuss common structure and function of lymphatics; and point to important functions for hyaluronan turn-over, salt balance, coagulation, extracellular matrix production, adipose tissue development and potential appetite regulation, and the influence of hypoxia on the regulation of these functions. Differences with respect to the embryonic origin and molecular equipment between somatic and splanchnic lymphatics are discussed with a side-view on the phylogeny of the LVS. The functions of the lymphatic vasculature are much broader than generally thought, and lymphatic research will have many interesting and surprising aspects to offer in the future. BioMed Central 2022-09-15 /pmc/articles/PMC9476376/ /pubmed/36109802 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13578-022-00898-0 Text en © The Author(s) 2022 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open AccessThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) . The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) ) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.
spellingShingle Review
Wilting, Jörg
Becker, Jürgen
The lymphatic vascular system: much more than just a sewer
title The lymphatic vascular system: much more than just a sewer
title_full The lymphatic vascular system: much more than just a sewer
title_fullStr The lymphatic vascular system: much more than just a sewer
title_full_unstemmed The lymphatic vascular system: much more than just a sewer
title_short The lymphatic vascular system: much more than just a sewer
title_sort lymphatic vascular system: much more than just a sewer
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9476376/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36109802
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13578-022-00898-0
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