Miller A J, Palmer A S, Eliska O, Eliskova M, DeBoer A, Greene R
Cardiology Division, Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago, USA.
Lymphology. 1996 Dec;29(4):158-65.
Our interest in the effects of impaired cardiac lymph drainage on coronary atherosclerosis led us to study the cardiac lymphatic anatomy in the monkey, generally considered the ideal experimental animal for examining coronary artery disorders. Short-term and long-term studies to visualize the cardiac lymphatic system and its mediastinal drainage pathways in 14 living monkeys confirmed that the epicardial collecting lymphatic anatomy is comparable to that of man, dog, and pig. These lymphatics, and particular lymphatic drainage to the cardiac lymph node in the right mediastinum, are difficult to visualize, in good part, because lymph uptake of such tracers as India Ink and T1824 blue dye is extremely slow. By modifying our techniques and taking cognizance of the slow lymphatic uptake of the tracers, we have been more successful in visualizing the mediastinal cardiac lymph node. Though our studies confirm that the lymphatic drainage of the monkey heart is similar to that in other mammals, we conclude that the "monkey model" has several drawbacks to study the effects of impaired cardiac lymph flow because of the laborious requirements to visualize successfully the cardiac lymph node. Perhaps the development of new markers would make this lymphatic system more approachable for experimental investigation.
我们对心脏淋巴引流受损对冠状动脉粥样硬化的影响感兴趣，这促使我们研究猴子的心脏淋巴解剖结构，猴子通常被认为是研究冠状动脉疾病的理想实验动物。对14只活体猴子的心脏淋巴系统及其纵隔引流途径进行的短期和长期研究证实，心外膜集合淋巴管的解剖结构与人类、狗和猪的相似。这些淋巴管，尤其是向右纵隔心脏淋巴结的淋巴引流，很难可视化，很大程度上是因为诸如印度墨水和T1824蓝色染料等示踪剂的淋巴摄取极其缓慢。通过改进我们的技术并认识到示踪剂的淋巴摄取缓慢，我们在可视化纵隔心脏淋巴结方面取得了更大的成功。尽管我们的研究证实猴子心脏的淋巴引流与其他哺乳动物相似，但我们得出结论，“猴子模型”在研究心脏淋巴流动受损的影响方面有几个缺点，因为成功可视化心脏淋巴结的要求很高。也许新标记物的开发会使这个淋巴系统更便于进行实验研究。
