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TL;DR
This narrative review proposes that kidney injury disrupts intestinal lymphatics, creating a vicious cycle where harmful factors from the gut spread systemically and worsen disease progression in distant organs.
Circulation Research · 6 authors, 5 centres
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This narrative review proposes that kidney injury disrupts intestinal lymphatics, creating a vicious cycle where harmful factors from the gut spread systemically and worsen disease progression in distant organs.
This narrative review synthesizes existing research on kidney-intestinal lymphatic cross-talk. It describes how kidney injury expands intestinal lymphatics, increases lymph flow, and alters mesenteric lymph composition, facilitating the transport of harmful gut-derived substances. The authors propose a novel paradigm of a vicious cycle where these lymphatic changes promote systemic distribution of harmful factors, contributing to disease progression in other organs like the heart and brain. The review discusses the unique role of lymphatics in transporting large macromolecules and lipids, differentiating them from blood vessels.