A FINE STRUCTURAL STUDY OF VARIATIONS IN PROTEIN CONCENTRATION IN LACTEALS DURING COMPRESSION AND RELAXATION

Abstract

The ratios of plasma proteins and ferritin (introduced
into the gut) were determined between the
jejunal lacteals and the interstitial channels in puppies.
This was done by fine structural densitometry
and the counting of molecules, respectively. In the
normal state this ratio was ~2. In portions of tissue
whose smooth muscle had been relaxed by atropine
the ratio was ~1; in others, where the muscle had
been contracted by Carbacol, it was ~3. These
latter correspond approximately to the filling-phase
and the emptying-phase of the initial lymphatic
cycle, respectively. Thus the evidence was
strengthened for an hypothesis, which holds that the
filling is caused by the high effective colloidal
osmotic pressure of the concentraded lymph.