Word: mayerson
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Dates: during 1962-1962
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...flow. The Romans did coin a name, but for the fluid only. They called it lympha, after a fancied resemblance to clear spring water. But nothing about the lymphatic system was clear then, or for another 2,000 years. Only now, says Tulane University's Physiologist Hymen S. Mayerson in a report to the American College of Surgeons, are the workings of the lymphatic system beginning to be understood. The body's second circulation system, he says, plays an essential role in keeping man alive and healthy by filtering gallons of fluid every day, transporting vital substances...
Johhny-Come-Lately. Though anatomists have been mapping its geography for 300 years, the lymphatic system is a Johnny-come-lately on the evolutionary stage, says Dr. Mayerson. It is found only in higher animals; the higher the animal, the more complex the system. The complexity is necessary, says Dr. Mayerson, because in the mammal, nature evolved a closed, high-pressure blood-circulating system with conduits of diminishing thickness carrying blood and oxygen to thin-walled capillaries. "But here, nature ran into a snag: the high pressure made the capillaries leaky." Even the large molecules of proteins slip through delicate...
...obscure method, the lymphatic system picks up this protein,, which then flows to lymphatic collection points. Biggest of these, in the abdomen, is the cisterna chyli. Others are in the chest. Through large lymph channels-notably the thoracic duct-the protein returns to the blood stream. Most surprising, Dr. Mayerson and fellow researchers found, is the sheer volume that the lymphatics handle. In the dog, and probably in man, the kidneys' lymphatics process a volume of fluid almost equal to the kidneys' output of urine...
Good Servant. There seems to be no end to the variety of vital biochemical substances that the lymphatic system carries. Dr. Mayerson believes that it conveys hormones into the bloodstream from the glands where they are produced. He is convinced that cholesterol gets into the blood through the lymph-system interchange. And circulating cholesterol is under indictment as a cause of atherosclerosis. In one of nature's delicate balance mechanisms, a rise in blood pressure may push more fats through artery walls. If the lymphatic system cannot drain away all this fat from the tissue spaces around the arteries...
When the lymphatic drainage system of a major organ is blocked, other organs may be affected by a chain reaction. In medicine's present state of knowledge, says Dr. Mayerson, the lymphatic system "is a good servant, reliable and loyal, and does a capable job when all is going well. But its capacity is limited. It has not evolved to the point of being able to cope with abnormal stresses and strains.'' Dr. Mayerson and his colleagues hope to learn how to help the lymphatic system do its job even in times of crisis...