PUBLICATION
Cells with Many Talents: Lymphatic Endothelial Cells in the Brain Meninges
- Authors
- Suárez, I., Schulte-Merker, S.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-210501-9
- Date
- 2021
- Source
- Cells 10(4): (Review)
- Registered Authors
- Schulte-Merker, Stefan
- Keywords
- endocytosis, lymphatic cells, meninges, regeneration
- MeSH Terms
-
- Animals
- Brain/cytology*
- Endothelial Cells/cytology*
- Humans
- Lymphangiogenesis
- Lymphatic System/cytology*
- Macromolecular Substances/metabolism
- Meninges/cytology*
- PubMed
- 33918497 Full text @ Cells
Citation
Suárez, I., Schulte-Merker, S. (2021) Cells with Many Talents: Lymphatic Endothelial Cells in the Brain Meninges. Cells. 10(4):.
Abstract
The lymphatic system serves key functions in maintaining fluid homeostasis, the uptake of dietary fats in the small intestine, and the trafficking of immune cells. Almost all vascularized peripheral tissues and organs contain lymphatic vessels. The brain parenchyma, however, is considered immune privileged and devoid of lymphatic structures. This contrasts with the notion that the brain is metabolically extremely active, produces large amounts of waste and metabolites that need to be cleared, and is especially sensitive to edema formation. Recently, meningeal lymphatic vessels in mammals and zebrafish have been (re-)discovered, but how they contribute to fluid drainage is still not fully understood. Here, we discuss these meningeal vessel systems as well as a newly described cell population in the zebrafish and mouse meninges. These cells, termed brain lymphatic endothelial cells/Fluorescent Granular Perithelial cells/meningeal mural lymphatic endothelial cells in fish, and Leptomeningeal Lymphatic Endothelial Cells in mice, exhibit remarkable features. They have a typical lymphatic endothelial gene expression signature but do not form vessels and rather constitute a meshwork of single cells, covering the brain surface.
Genes / Markers
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping