History of the development of the lymphatic system (part two)

Abstract

The eighteenth century can rightly be considered the time of the most remarkable inventions in studying the lymphatic system. The Swiss Johann Conrad Peyer (1653–1712), in his "Exercitatio anatomico-medica de glandulis intestinorum earumque usu et affectionibus" (1677) described the presence of organized lymphatic vessels in the mucous membrane of the small intestine, which are named Peyer's plaques in his honor. Alexander Monro from the University of Edinburgh Medical School was the first to describe the function of the lymphatic system in detail. In 1701, Dutch botanist and anatomist Frederick Ruysch (1638-1731), a student of Van Horn, described the morphology and function of lymphatic valves. Another Dutch anatomist, Anton Nyuck (1650-1692), used the mercury injection technique to demonstrate the lymphatic system. The French anatomist Raymond Vuyssens (1641-1715), a pioneer in cardiac and nervous system anatomy, published his groundbreaking work in Nouvelles Découvertes sur le Coeur (1706) detailing the lymphatic system of the heart. The Italian histologist and microscopist Marcello Malpighi (1628–1689) gave a great impetus to the development of microanatomy with his pioneering microscope. New progress in the knowledge of the lymphatic system was provided by the English Hunter brothers. William Hunter (1718-1783) clearly suggested that lymphatic and milk vessels have two different properties that contribute to the formation of a single network of vessels endowed with an absorbing function. In 1731, Antonio Leprotti published a dissertation on the roots of the human lymphatic system. The Italian anatomist Paolo Mascagni (1755-1815) developed a special instrument with glass tubes for slowly introducing mercury into the lymphatic vessels. In the same year, 1787, Paolo Assalini published an essay on the lymphatic system, where the author tried to demonstrate the existence of "air-conducting" vessels. Like Nyuck and Mascagna, Vincenzo Foman (1794-1837) used mercury to inject the smallest lymphatic vessels. Another contribution to understanding the anatomy of the lymphatic system made the French anatomist Marie Philibert Constant Sappey (1810-1896), who was able to count the valves in the lymphatic vessels. The Polish pathologist Alfred Besiadecki (1839-1889) made a great contribution to the study of the lymphatic system of the skin. Thanks to his research, he refuted the prevailing hypothesis that the blood capillaries in the skin are located inside the lymphatic vessels. For the first time in history, he described the contiguous connection between lymphatic and blood vessels. In 1858, Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig (1816-1895) proposed the hypothesis that lymph is a filtrate of blood that is released from the capillary wall under the influence of intracapillary pressure. After that, the British doctor William Handley significantly contributed to the development of surgery for lymphatic disorders. In 1908, he introduced his technique of "lymphangioplasty". One of the key figures of this lymphatic revolution and "renaissance" is undoubtedly the Finnish researcher Kari Kustaa Alitalo (1952-present), who, together with his group and in collaboration with other international groups, made the most important discoveries regarding the growth factor/receptor system that controls the development of lymphatic vessels and lymphatic metastases of tumors.