The effect of human peripheral lymph on cell growth in vitro

Peripheral lymph is similar in composition to the interstitial fluid that surrounds most cells in vivo. Gel filtration is used to show that the protein composition of such lymph is considerably different from that of plasma. Primary cell cultures fail to survive in adult human plasma or serum but grow well in adult peripheral lymph collected from the dorsum of the foot. The different effects on cell cultures may be because toxic components such as low-density lipoproteins are partially filtered out by the capillary endothelium.