Lymph part 1
You feel a swollen lymph node, you’ve heard or may have experienced lymphedema, and what about the lymph near breast tissue?!
In this blog, I’m covering all things lymphatic system! This system cannot be separated from our immune system. So, what does this bodily system involve?
The main responsibilities of the lymphatic system can be broken down as follows:
Return fluid to the heart
Transport hormones and lipids into the blood
Immune surveillance
Science-y Stuff:
You can visualize the lymphatic system running along beside the circulatory system. It must be known that venous capillaries are porous and actually leak out proteins and other metabolites into the interstitial fluid. The lymphatic capillaries pick up extra fluid along with proteins, hormones, fats in it to either excrete it via skin, stool, breath, or urine OR transport it to various tissues in the body.
The cardiovascular/circulatory system have this awesome pump - the heart! On the contrary, the lymphatic system does not have this. So, our bodies have to exert external pressure in order to get this thing pumping! The external pressure comes from skeleton muscle and arterial pressure.
Our body is pretty cool because major lymphatic vessels and nodes are around really mobile joints! This includes shoulders (armpit), elbows, hips, and upper neck. Fluid in the lymphatic vessels travels from high to low pressure, with the lowest pressure around the collarbones. These areas are where fluid is taken back into the veins.
Major Players:
GALT & RALT: Gut-associated lymphoid tissue & respiratory lymphoid tissue. The RALT may be more familiar as we are familiar with mucus build up or a runny nose. But have you heard how the majority of our immune system is in our gut?! Well, its actually our lymphatic tissue! It has a special name, “Peyer’s Patches” within the small and large intestine that serve for a HUGE portion of our immune function. (always going back to the gut ;))
Spleen: aka - big lymph node
Tonsils
Thymus: A neonatal & pre-adolescent organ located right in between our lungs that produce T-cells that function in our immune system. After puberty, it is soon replaced by fat. (so, probably a good idea to prioritize a strong, robust immunity when we’re a kiddo, huh?)
Skin: The biggest organ that is our main barrier of protection along with a powerful area of detoxing.
Liver: The main detox organ! It also makes up ~50% of our lymphatic tissue
When infection hits:
The infection (bacteria, virus, parasite, protein build up) goes into lymph
A dendritic cell (antigen presenting cell) detects it!
Dendritic cell shows it to B cells
This B cell reacts if its a foreign antigen; it’ll form an antibody that leave the node and enter the lymph
T-cells are on surveillance throughout the lymph and look for pathogens that have been tagged by antigens
See Lymph Part 2 for how to support this major immune system!
