Abstract
Adipose tissue (AT) is an organ vital for optimal metabolic and immunological functions of the body. While the interaction of AT with the major metabolically active organs has been, and is, the subject of intense research, the importance of the interaction of AT with the immune, resp. the lymphatic system, is just gaining deserved attention.
The relationship of AT and lymphatic (immune) system appears to be evolutionarily conserved and physiologically beneficial: AT provides substrates for energetically demanding immune processes and modulates immune cell functions through its endocrine products. On the other hand, the lymphatic system ensures the transport of a number of cytokines and metabolites produced by AT into the blood and moreover has a major impact on the availability of lipid substrates from food.
The pathophysiological changes in the function of the lymphatic system then lead to changes in AT: its inflammation, fibrosis and, finally, increased accumulation. The trigger of these changes is probably the long-term alteration of the microenvironment reflecting the stagnation of the interstitial fluid, resp. leakage of lymph, when both fluids are enriched in cytokines and other signaling molecules produced by activated immune cells.
The review aims to present existing knowledge of how AT is influenced by microenvironment whose properties are closely related to the function of the lymphatic system, but also to present new hypotheses on possible role of physiological variation in lymph drainage efficiency in site-specific AT accumulation.