Review Volume 11, Issue 16 pp 6602—6613
Pathophysiology of aged lymphatic vessels
- 1 Medical Research Center, Shandong Provincial Qianfoshan Hospital, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, China
- 2 Department of Health Care, Shandong Provincial Qianfoshan Hospital, The First Hospital Affiliated with Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, Shandong, China
- 3 Department of Biology, Trent University, Peterborough, ON, Canada
- 4 Laboratory of Microvascular Medicine, Medical Research Center, Shandong Provincial Qianfoshan Hospital, The First Hospital Affiliated with Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, Shandong, China
Received: April 26, 2019 Accepted: August 14, 2019 Published: August 28, 2019
https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.102213How to Cite
Copyright © 2019 Shang et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 3.0) License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Lymphatic vessels maintain body homeostasis by recirculation of fluid and cells. Cell senescence induces lymphatic dysfunction. Impaired contractile function is caused by low muscle cell investiture and decrease of nitric oxide in aged lymphatic collectors, leading to poor drainage of lymph. Aging-induced loss of endothelial glycocalyx and production of inflammatory cytokines increases permeability of lymphatic vessels. In addition, aging-associated basal activation of mast cells delays immune response. In this review, we summarize the structural and pathological changes of aged lymphatic vessels, and discuss the underlying molecular mechanisms.