The ultrastructure of pulmonary lymphatic vessels and capillaries
Klika, E.
Acta Universitatis Carolinae. Medica 21(1-2): 23-51
1975
ISSN/ISBN: 0001-7116 PMID: 1241754 Document Number: 93504
Lymphatic vessels and capillaries were studied in adult mice, rabbits, monkeys and humans. Findings in the ultrastructure emphasize the very close relationship of the lymphatic capillaries and their endothelium to the adjacent connective tissue and thus they prove the integrity of the lymphatic capillaries with the interstitium. The views concerning differentiation of the endothelium of the lymphatic capillaries and blood capillaries were specified. There was a definite storing capacity of the endothelium of the lymphatic capillaries and it was established that the endothelium of capillaries belonged to the reticulohistiocytic system. The endothelium of the lymphatic capillaries may have the ability to change into free macrophages. A description was made of a system of tissue clefts in the lungs. They were incompletely lined by flat cells having a close structural relationship to the endothelium of the lymphatic capillaries. The ultrastructure of the valves of lymphatic vessels was described and the concept of the existence of funnel shaped valves in the lymphatic vessels was accepted.