Quantification of the Whole Lymph Node Vasculature Based on Tomography of the Vessel Corrosion Casts
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Moore Jr, James
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Lymph nodes (LN) are crucial for immune function, and comprise an important interface between the blood and lymphatic systems. Blood vessels (BV) in LN are highly specialized, featuring high endothelial venules across which most of the resident lymphocytes crossed. Previous measurements of overall lymph and BV flow rates demonstrated that fluid also crosses BV walls, and that this is important for immune function. However, the spatial distribution of the BV in LN has not been quantified to the degree necessary to analyse the distribution of transmural fluid movement. In this study, we seek to quantify the spatial localization of LNBV, and to predict fluid movement across BV walls. MicroCT imaging of murine popliteal LN showed that capillaries were responsible for approximately 75% of the BV wall surface area, and that this was mostly distributed around the periphery of the node. We then modelled blood flow through the BV to obtain spatially resolved hydrostatic pressures, which were then combined with Starling’s law to predict transmural flow. Much of the total 10 nL/min transmural flow (under normal conditions) was concentrated in the periphery, corresponding closely with surface area distribution. These results provide important insights into the inner workings of LN, and provide a basis for further exploration of the role of LN flow patterns in normal and pathological functions.
Date Issued
2019-09-16
Date Acceptance
2019-08-05
Citation
Scientific Reports, 2019, 9, pp.1-11
ISSN
2045-2322
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
Start Page
1
End Page
11
Journal / Book Title
Scientific Reports
Volume
9
Copyright Statement
© Te Author(s) 2019. This 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 license, and indicate if changes were made. Te images or other third party material in this
article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the
material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license 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 license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
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 license, and indicate if changes were made. Te images or other third party material in this
article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the
material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license 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 license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Sponsor
Royal Academy Of Engineering
National Institutes of Health
Wellcome Trust
Identifier
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-49055-7
Grant Number
N/A
1U01HL123420-01
206284/Z/17/Z
Subjects
0601 Biochemistry and Cell Biology
0299 Other Physical Sciences
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
13380
Date Publish Online
2019-09-16