Lymphatic System Overview - Anatomy & Physiology

Structure

The lymphatic system can be divided into two anatomical subsets:

#1 Vessels	#2 Lymphoreticular System
Vessels that carry lymph around the body	Consisting of the lymphoid tissues Primary Lymphoid Tissue Secondary Lymphoid Tissue Appendix, bone marrow, bursa of Fabricius, foetal liver, ileal Peyer's patch and thymus. Spleen, lymph nodes, regional lymphoid tissue and tonsils.

Functions

The lymphatic system has three functions:

1. Immune defence
2. Removal of interstitial fluid from tissue
3. Transport of fat

Immune defence

This is a broad topic area.

Immune functions are covered broadly under the primary and secondary lymphoid tissues of the lymphoreticular system with further information under the immunology section.