What are the four primary functions of the lymphatic system?
What are the four main functions of the lymphatic system? defend the body against pathogens, produce and distributes lymphocytes, absorbs excess interstitial fluid and returns it to the blood, and absorb fats from the small intestine. Select all of the primary lymphatic organs, in which lymphocytes are produced and/or mature.
Does the spleen have a vital function?
The spleen is not a vital organ, meaning that you can live without it. But it does play several very important roles in the body. It is not surprising that many people are caught “off guard” when told that there is a problem with the spleen as the symptoms are often vague.
What is the increased function of the spleen?
The spleen has some important functions:
- it fights invading germs in the blood (the spleen contains infection-fighting white blood cells)
- it controls the level of blood cells (white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets)
- it filters the blood and removes any old or damaged red blood cells
Is the main function of the spleen to filter blood?
Your spleen’s main function is to act as a filter for your blood. It recognizes and removes old, malformed, or damaged red blood cells. When blood flows into your spleen, your spleen performs “quality control”; your red blood cells must pass through a maze of narrow passages. What are the 5 functions of the spleen?
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What is the main function of the spleen in the lymphatic system?
Your spleen's main function is to act as a filter for your blood. It recognizes and removes old, malformed, or damaged red blood cells. When blood flows into your spleen, your spleen performs "quality control"; your red blood cells must pass through a maze of narrow passages.
What are the three main functions of the spleen?
Functions of the spleen The spleen's main roles are: filtering old or unwanted cells from the blood. storing red blood cells and platelets. metabolizing and recycling iron.
What is the spleens role in the immune system?
APCs unique to the spleen regulate the T and B cell response to these antigenic targets in the blood. This review will focus on cell types, cell organization and immunologic functions specific to the spleen, and how these impact initiation of adaptive immunity to systemic blood-borne antigens.
Where is the spleen and what does it do?
Your spleen is an organ above your stomach and under your ribs on your left side. It is about as big as your fist. The spleen is part of your lymphatic system, which fights infection and keeps your body fluids in balance. It contains white blood cells that fight germs.
What are 3 diseases that affect the spleen?
Disorders of the spleen include splenomegaly, hypersplenism and splenic rupture.
Can you live without your spleen?
You can be active without a spleen, but you're at increased risk of becoming sick or getting serious infections. This risk is highest shortly after surgery. People without a spleen may also have a harder time recovering from an illness or injury.
What happens if your spleen is removed?
Living without a spleen. If your spleen needs to be removed, other organs, such as the liver, can take over many of the spleen's functions. This means you'll still be able to cope with most infections. But there's a small risk that a serious infection may develop quickly.
How do you know if you have spleen problems?
Doctors can often tell if you have an enlarged spleen by feeling your abdomen. A blood test, CT scan or MRI scan would confirm the diagnosis. The spleen is not usually removed if it's just enlarged. Instead, you'll receive treatment for any underlying condition and your spleen will be monitored.
What does your spleen do and can you live without it?
You can live without a spleen. But because the spleen plays a crucial role in the body's ability to fight off bacteria, living without the organ makes you more likely to develop infections, especially dangerous ones such as Streptococcus pneumoniae, Neisseria meningitidis, and Haemophilus influenzae.
What foods heal the spleen?
So what can I eat to strengthen the Spleen?Meat: poultry, lamb, beef, venison.Fish: trout, salmon, tuna, shellfish.Fruit: apples, apricots, dates, figs, sweet cherries, peach, plums, red grapes, dried fruit such as raisins.Veggies: cabbage, pumpkin, carrot, sweet potato.Grains: amaranth, oats, millet, polenta, rice.More items...•
What makes your spleen hurt?
Some common causes of spleen pain include infections such as mono or pneumonia, autoimmune conditions such as lupus or rheumatoid arthritis, metabolic disorders such as diabetes, or liver diseases such as hepatitis.
How do you improve spleen function?
To keep your spleen, lymphatic system and immune system working properly, you should drink plenty of water, exercise regularly and maintain a healthy weight. Eat a balanced diet with plenty of fruits and vegetables. By staying healthy, you'll help your immune system protect you from infections and illness.
What are 4 functions of spleen?
FunctionStores blood.Filters blood by removing cellular waste and getting rid of old or damaged blood cells.Makes white blood cells and antibodies that help you fight infection.Maintains the levels of fluid in your body.Produces antibodies that protect you against infection.
What are 2 important functions of the spleen?
The spleen has some important functions: it fights invading germs in the blood (the spleen contains infection-fighting white blood cells) it controls the level of blood cells (white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets) it filters the blood and removes any old or damaged red blood cells.
What are the functions of the spleen quizlet?
The spleen has four functions: (1) it filters antigen from the blood (2) it is the site of B cell maturation, (3) it stores blood, and (4) it destroys old red blood cells. You just studied 7 terms!
What foods heal the spleen?
So what can I eat to strengthen the Spleen?Meat: poultry, lamb, beef, venison.Fish: trout, salmon, tuna, shellfish.Fruit: apples, apricots, dates, figs, sweet cherries, peach, plums, red grapes, dried fruit such as raisins.Veggies: cabbage, pumpkin, carrot, sweet potato.Grains: amaranth, oats, millet, polenta, rice.More items...•
Why is the spleen important?
Your spleen is a small but important organ. It works hard to fight infection, remove old or damaged blood cells and keep fluids moving through your body. Many disorders, infections, injuries and diseases can cause problems in the spleen.
What is the spleen?
The spleen is a small organ inside your left rib cage, just above the stomach. It’s part of the lymphatic system (which is part of the immune system). The spleen stores and filters blood and makes white blood cells that protect you from infection. Many diseases and conditions can affect how the spleen works. A ruptured (torn) spleen can be fatal.
Why does my spleen feel so big?
Splenomegaly is a dangerous condition because the spleen can rupture (tear) or bleed.
Why is splenomegaly dangerous?
Splenomegaly is a dangerous condition because the spleen can rupture (tear) or bleed. The spleen can become enlarged from: Blood cancers, such as leukemia and Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and cancer in other parts of the body that metastasize (spread) to the spleen. Blood clots in the spleen or the liver.
Why do they remove the spleen?
Sometimes, healthcare providers perform surgery to remove the spleen (splenectomy) because it’s damaged or diseased. Without the spleen, the liver takes over many of the spleen’s duties. Splenectomy is also a treatment for different types of thrombocytopenia, including immune thrombocytopenia (ITP).
What are the two parts of the spleen?
There are two parts of the spleen. They each do different jobs. The types of tissue in the spleen are: White pulp: As part of the immune system, the white pulp produces white blood cells. These blood cells make antibodies. Antibodies fight infection. Red pulp: The red pulp acts like a filter.
What happens when your spleen doesn't work?
Protein disorders like amyloidosis. Functional asplenia: This condition happens when your spleen doesn’t work as it should. It may overreact (hypersplenism) and destroy healthy red blood cells. Destroying too many blood cells can increase the risk of infection and lead to bruising and bleeding.
What is the structure of the spleen?
Structure. In adults, the spleen is a purple organ that is about the size of a clenched fist. It’s covered in visceral peritoneum, a smooth membrane that’s composed of two layers of cells, which secrete fluid and serve a protective function. 1 There is, however, an opening in this membrane called the hilum of the spleen, ...
Where is the spleen located?
The spleen resides in the upper left portion of the abdomen or “hypochondriac” region, which places it just behind the stomach, with the left kidney to its immediate right, and the diaphragm just above it.
How to detect inflammation in spleen?
Physical examination: In some cases of splenomegaly, doctors can actually detect inflammation by touch. Blood testing: Since splenic activity is intimately connected to red and white blood cell levels—as well as the presence of antibodies—blood tests are an early line assessment of spleen activity.
Why is the spleen enlarged?
Clinically, the spleen can become enlarged (a condition called splenomegaly) due to a range of conditions, including cancer, pressure from the veins, as well as bacterial or viral infections. Furthermore, this organ has a relatively high incidence of injury; depending on the scope of the issue, removal surgery called splenectomy may be required. 1
What causes a wandering spleen?
3 This can occur congenitally due to the absence or malformation of the ligaments that anchor it in position. It may also occur due to pregnancy or muscular dystrophy (a condition characterized by deterioration of the muscles) and is associated with a range of other conditions, including Hodgkin lymphoma (a cancer of parts of the immune system).
What are the two types of tissues in the spleen?
Notably, the spleen is composed of two types of tissues: white pulp and red pulp. The former of these is associated with white blood cell production and is made up of structures called periarteriolar lymphoid sheaths (PALS) and lymphatic nodules.
What is the function of the red pulp?
In turn, the red pulp—composed of wide blood vessels called splenic sinusoids—works to filter blood and store elements that help repair injuries. 2 These tissues are separated by a marginal zone, a membrane border that also serves a filtering function.
What is the spleen?
Anatomy. The spleen is a purple, fist-sized organ. It is wrapped by a fibroelastic capsule which allows the spleen to significantly increase its size when necessary. The spleen is an intraperitoneal organ, so all of its surfaces are covered with visceral peritoneum.
What is the microscopic anatomy of the spleen?
Understanding the microscopic anatomy of the spleen is important for understanding its function. Numerous septa called trabeculae extend from the dense irregular fibroelastic connective tissue of the capsule into the parenchyma of the spleen. Both the capsule and trabeculae contain myoepithelial cells which have the ability to contract. As the spleen stores a significant amount of blood, the contraction of myoepithelial cells pumps stored blood into the circulatory system when the body is in need; for example during intense physical activity or massive hemorrhage.
What is the medial surface of the spleen?
Medial surface of the spleen shows three areas of impression. The colic area is the impression of the left colic flexure, the gastric area is the impression of the stomach, and the renal area is the impression of the left kidney. The splenic hilum is found in the central part of this surface.
What is the parenchyma of the spleen?
The parenchyma of the spleen is called pulp. Based on the color of the pulp on fresh sections, white and red pulp can be distinguished. White pulp is the main lymphoid tissue of the spleen. It is the accumulation of lymphocytes around an arterial vessel. This aggregation of lymphocytes constitutes the lymphoid tissue known as periarterial lymphoidsheath ( PALS) and it is the first to react if microbes reach the spleen through the bloodstream. The central arterial vessels in PALS nodules are branches of the splenic artery. Red pulp consists of splenic venous sinuses and cords (of Billroth), linings of splenic macrophages around the sinuses. The central artery of PALS continues from the white pulp and enters the red pulp as a capillary. These capillaries empty into the splenic cords, where macrophages phagocyte old and damaged erythrocytes. From there, blood diffuses into the splenic sinuses, thus returning to the venous circulation.
How many borders does the spleen have?
The spleen has three borders (superior, inferior, and anterior) as well as two extremities (anterior and posterior). The superior border bounds the gastric area, the inferior border bounds the renal area and the anterior border bounds the colic area.
Where does the arterial supply of the spleen come from?
The arterial supply of the spleen comes from the tortuous splenic artery, which reaches the spleen as it travels through the splenorenal ligament. This artery emerges from the celiac trunk, which is a branch of the abdominal aorta .
Which ligament connects the hilum of the spleen to the left kidney?
The splenorenal ligament connects the hilum of the spleen with the left kidney. It transmits the splenic artery and vein. Lastly, the spleen sits on the phrenicocolic ligament which originates from the colon and is also known as the sustentaculum lienis.
What is the function of the spleen?
The functions of the spleen are listed below. The important function of the spleen is to filter the blood. The spleen recycles the old and damaged red blood cells and the white blood cells are stored. It also helps to fight against bacteria that cause diseases such as meningitis and pneumonia.
Which organ is the largest organ in the lymphatic system?
The spleen is the largest organ of the lymphatic system. It keeps all the body fluids balanced. It is made up of a red pulp tissue that filters the old and damaged red blood cells, whereas, the white pulp tissue that consists of the B and T cells that help to fight infections.
Which system makes blood cells?
A. The lymphatic system makes blood cells through a process known as hematopoiesis.
Which system regulates blood pressure?
D.The lymphatic system regulates blood pressure through the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone mechanism. The lymphatic system returns leaked fluid and plasma proteins that escape from the bloodstream to the blood.
