Physiological Significance of Lymph Drainage of the Serous Cavities and Lungs

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The rapidity and ease of absorption from the serous cavities of fluid, protein and red cells[long dash]the natural constituents of most effusions[long dash]can be explained in part by specialized arrangements for absorption, in part by the continual respiratory movements and pressure changes, promoting the passage of material into and along lymphatics. Although the most dramatic demonstrations have been in small, active animals such as rats, absorption is much more rapid in the larger laboratory animals than has usually been appreciated. The rate in man cannot yet be evaluated, but evidence suggests that considerable amounts of protein are absorbed daily from ascitic fluid in patients with Laennec''s cirrhosis of the liver, and turnover may be greater in other types of ascites. Regarding pulmonary lymphatic absorption this is negligible when plasma protein is introduced into the lungs of anesthetized animals. In unanesthetized animals the absorption of labelled proteins into the blood stream, presumably by the lymphatics, is very slow compared with that from the serous cavities, but nevertheless is adequate to account for the resolution of pulmonary edema without invoking the breakdown of the albumin and globulin molecules.