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Physiology of the Gastrointestinal Lymphatics

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Lymph Node Metastasis in Gastrointestinal Cancer

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Abstract

In this chapter, we focus on the physiology of gastrointestinal lymphatic system and then demonstrate with current inspired studies that (1) functional properties of the intestinal microcirculation are summarized as higher permeability of plasma protein, especially albumin through the venule walls, which contribute to the oncotic pressure-mediated much absorption of interstitial fluid into lymphatic capillaries, (2) the larger amount of lymph formation in the intestinal villi may be related to the presence of lacteal vessels in the tissues, (3) the mesenteric collecting lymphatics demonstrate marked heart-like spontaneous contractions working as transport of the larger amount of lymph to chylous cyst, (4) the sentinel lymph node (SLN) may be defined as the node subjected to higher lymph flow from physiological point of view, and (5) the higher lymph flow may be, in part, related to develop the suitable microenvironment of the SLN for metastasis of carcinoma cells, which is produced by the cell surface F1/F0 ATP synthase-dependent overexpression of intercellular adhesion molecule-1 on the marginal endothelial-like cells of SLN.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Innovation of Medical and Health Sciences Research, School of Medicine, Shinshu University, Matsumoto, Japan

    Toshio Ohhashi

  2. Faculty of Medicine, Division of Physiology, Tohoku Medical and Pharmaceutical University, Sendai, Japan

    Yoshiko Kawai

Authors
  1. Toshio Ohhashi
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  2. Yoshiko Kawai
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Toshio Ohhashi .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Digestive Surgery, Breast and Thyroid Surgery, Kagoshima, Japan

    Shoji Natsugoe

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Ohhashi, T., Kawai, Y. (2019). Physiology of the Gastrointestinal Lymphatics. In: Natsugoe, S. (eds) Lymph Node Metastasis in Gastrointestinal Cancer. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4699-5_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4699-5_1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-10-4698-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-10-4699-5

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