Are the initial lymphatics normally pulled open by the anchoring filaments?
The conformation of the walls of initial lymphatics was studied in oedema and during the filling- and emptying-phases of the initial lymphatic cycle in the mouse diaphragm and in the puppy jejunum. It was found that the anchoring filaments, attached to the endothelium, caused typical distortions of the vessels during oedema, but that these did not occur in normal tissue. This implies that these filaments do not pull them open during the filling-phase of the cycle, but that some other force causes them to fill.
