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Review|Volume 11, Issue 16|pp 6602—6613

Pathophysiology of aged lymphatic vessels

Tongyao Shang1, Jiangjiu Liang2, Carolyn M. Kapron3, Ju Liu1,4
  • 1Medical Research Center, Shandong Provincial Qianfoshan Hospital, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, China
  • 2Department of Health Care, Shandong Provincial Qianfoshan Hospital, The First Hospital Affiliated with Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, Shandong, China
  • 3Department of Biology, Trent University, Peterborough, ON, Canada
  • 4Laboratory 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, 2019Accepted: August 14, 2019Published: August 28, 2019
https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.102213

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.