File:Lymphatic vasculature 01.jpg

Lymphatic Vasculature Organization cartoon

• A - The lymphatic vasculature resorbs fluid, macromolecules, and cells from the interstitium.

• B - Mechanism of lymph formation in capillaries. Interstitial components penetrate lymphatic capillaries via openings between lymphatic endothelial cells (LECs). The specialized structure of such openings prevents the return of lymph back to the interstitium. Anchoring filaments attach LECs to the extracellular matrix (ECM) and prevent vessel collapse under conditions of increased interstitial pressure (black arrow).

• C - Junctional organization of LECs in lymphatic capillaries and collecting vessels. Both “buttons” and “zippers” share a repertoire of adherens and tight junction–associated proteins (e.g., VE-cadherin, zonula occludens-1, occludin, and claudin-5). The main difference between them resides in their organization (Baluk et al., 2007).

• D - Mechanism of lymph propulsion in collecting vessels. Coordinated opening and closure of lymphatic valves is important for efficient lymph transport. Smooth muscle cells (SMCs) covering each lymphangion possess intrinsic contractile activity. EC, endothelial cell. lymphangion - is the functional unit of a lymph vessel that lies between two semilunar (half moon-shaped) valves.

Links: Structure Cartoon | Development Cartoon | Lymphangion Cartoon | Vasculature cartoon | Lymphatic Development | Immune Development

Reference

<pubmed>21576390</pubmed>| PMC3166860 | J Cell Biol.

Copyright

Rockefeller University Press - Copyright Policy This article is distributed under the terms of an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike–No Mirror Sites license for the first six months after the publication date (see http://www.jcb.org/misc/terms.shtml). After six months it is available under a Creative Commons License (Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 4.0 Unported license, as described at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ ). (More? Help:Copyright Tutorial)

© 2011 Schulte-Merker et al.

Above text modified from figure 1 legend.

The Rockefeller University Press, doi: 10.1083/jcb.201012094