Europe PMC
Nothing Special   »   [go: up one dir, main page]

Europe PMC requires Javascript to function effectively.

Either your web browser doesn't support Javascript or it is currently turned off. In the latter case, please turn on Javascript support in your web browser and reload this page.

This website requires cookies, and the limited processing of your personal data in order to function. By using the site you are agreeing to this as outlined in our privacy notice and cookie policy.

Abstract 


Fibroblastic reticular cells (FRCs) form a road-like cellular network in lymph nodes (LNs) that provides essential chemotactic, survival, and regulatory signals for immune cells. While the topological characteristics of the FRC network have been elaborated, the network properties of the micro-tubular conduit system generated by FRCs, which drains lymph fluid through a pipeline-like system to distribute small molecules and antigens, has remained unexplored. Here, we quantify the crucial 3D morphometric parameters and determine the topological properties governing the structural organization of the intertwined networks. We find that the conduit system exhibits lesser small-worldness and lower resilience to perturbation compared to the FRC network, while the robust topological organization of both networks is maintained in a lymphotoxin-β-receptor-independent manner. Overall, the high-resolution topological analysis of the "roads-and-pipes" networks highlights essential parameters underlying the functional organization of LN micro-environments and will, hence, advance the development of multi-scale LN models.

Citations & impact 


Impact metrics

Jump to Citations
Jump to Data

Citations of article over time

Alternative metrics

Altmetric item for https://www.altmetric.com/details/74322004
Altmetric
Discover the attention surrounding your research
https://www.altmetric.com/details/74322004

Article citations


Go to all (25) article citations

Data 


Similar Articles 


To arrive at the top five similar articles we use a word-weighted algorithm to compare words from the Title and Abstract of each citation.


Funding 


Funders who supported this work.

Russian Science Foundation (2)

Swiss National Science Foundation (2)