Lesson 11 - WHAT IN DA WORLD IS THE LYMPHATIC SYSTEM?

IN THE WORLD, the LYMPHATIC SYSTEM IS ...

   The lymphatic system is a series of nodes and vessels that support the cardiovascular and immune systems. It has 3 main functions.
    The first function of the lymphatic system is to collect lymph from the blood and then put it back into the blood. Ok. You are probably A LITTLE confused. WHAT THE HECK IS LYMPH???? Ok. Lymph is fluid that diffuses out of capillaries. Ok. Now you are NOT confused. Ok. So if this lymph just kept diffusing out of your blood in the capillaries, you would lose a lot of blood and that would be VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY (at this point its just dumb, but...) VERY VERY VERY VERY BAAAADDDDD! So basically your lymphatic system takes this lymph and filters it through lymph nodes and then places it back into the blood stream.
    So, how does the lymphatic system move this lymph? Lymph vessels don't actually have muscle to move them. They use our normal muscle movement to move this fluid.
    The second function of the lymphatic system is the movement of bacteria to lymph nodes to be killed. Ok. Let's say that you have an infection. And you need to get B-cells and T-cells there to help stop the infection. But you can't get it there. So the bacteria will actually diffuse into the lymph vessels kinda like lymph does. Then it will travel to a lymph node where B-cells, T-cells, and Macrophages are located in large numbers.
    The third function of the lymphatic system is to take proteins that are too large to diffuse into the blood vessels and transport them to the body. So, glucose molecules in the intestine can diffuse across the epithelial cells lining the intestine. Then they diffuse into blood vessels. But fats cannot diffuse into blood vessels because they are too big (THEY SO FAT!!! HAHAHAHA!!! THAT WAS SO FUNNY!!!) (Its also because they are packaged into vesicles called chylomicrons). But the fat can diffuse into the lymph vessels. So then the lymph vessels transport this fat to the body.

This is a diagram of the diffusion of fat into lymph and blood vessels. HOPE THIS POST HELPED!!