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Plasticity of Airway Lymphatics in Development and Disease

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Developmental Aspects of the Lymphatic Vascular System

Part of the book series: Advances in Anatomy, Embryology and Cell Biology ((ADVSANAT,volume 214))

Abstract

The dynamic nature of lymphatic vessels is reflected by structural and functional modifications that coincide with changes in their environment. Lymphatics in the respiratory tract undergo rapid changes around birth, during adaptation to air breathing, when lymphatic endothelial cells develop button-like intercellular junctions specialized for efficient fluid uptake and transport. In inflammatory conditions, lymphatic vessels proliferate and undergo remodeling to accommodate greater plasma leakage and immune cell trafficking. However, the newly formed lymphatics are abnormal, and resolution of inflammation is not accompanied by complete reversal of the lymphatic vessel changes back to the baseline. As the understanding of lymphatic plasticity advances, approaches for eliminating the abnormal vessels and improving the functionality of those that remain move closer to reality. This chapter provides an overview of what is known about lymphatic vessel growth, remodeling, and other forms of plasticity that occur during development or inflammation, with an emphasis on the respiratory tract. Also addressed is the limited reversibility of changes in lymphatics during the resolution of inflammation.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by funding from the Lymphatic Malformation Institute, grants HL024136 and HL59157 from National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the US National Institutes of Health, and the Leducq Foundation to DMcD, and by a postdoctoral fellowship award from the Lymphatic Research Foundation to LCY. We thank the members of the McDonald laboratory for critical reading of the manuscript and their helpful comments.

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  1. Department of Anatomy, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Cardiovascular Research Institute, University of California-San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, 94143, USA

    Li-Chin Yao & Donald M. McDonald

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  1. Li-Chin Yao
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  2. Donald M. McDonald
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Correspondence to Donald M. McDonald .

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  1. MPI for Molecular Biomedicine, Münster, Germany

    Friedemann Kiefer

  2. Hubrecht Institute, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Stefan Schulte-Merker

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Yao, LC., McDonald, D.M. (2014). Plasticity of Airway Lymphatics in Development and Disease. In: Kiefer, F., Schulte-Merker, S. (eds) Developmental Aspects of the Lymphatic Vascular System. Advances in Anatomy, Embryology and Cell Biology, vol 214. Springer, Vienna. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7091-1646-3_4

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