The physiology of the lymphatic system

This paper presents an overview of the anatomy, physiology, and biology of the lymphatic system specifically relevant to lymphatic drug delivery. We w ill briefly review the classic fluid and solute transport literature, and a lso examine the current research in lymphatic endothelial cell biology and tumor metastasis in the lymphatics because of the increasing potential for targeted delivery of immunomodulators, chemotherapeutics, and genetic mater ial to specific lymph nodes (Refs. [1-7]). (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. A ll rights reserved.