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Interstitial fluid
 
 
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Interstitial fluid (or tissue fluid) is a solution which bathes and surrounds the cells of multicellular animals. It is the main component of the extracellular fluid
Extracellular fluid

Extracellular fluid usually denotes all body fluid outside of cells. The remainder is called intracellular fluid.In some animals, including mammals, the extracellular fluid can be divided into two major subcompartments, interstitial fluid and blood plasma....
, which also includes plasma
Blood plasma

Blood plasma is the liquid component of blood, in which the blood cells are suspended. It makes up about 55% of total blood volume. It is composed of mostly water , and contains dissolved proteins, glucose, clotting factors, mineral ions, Hormone and carbon dioxide ....
 and transcellular fluid
Transcellular fluid

Transcellular fluid is the portion of total body water contained within epithelial lined spaces.. It is the smallest component of extracellular fluid, which also includes interstitial fluid and Blood plasma....
.

On average, a person has about 11 litres (2.4 imperial gallons) of interstitial fluid providing the cells of the body with nutrients and a means of waste removal.
Production and Removal
Plasma and interstitial fluid are very similar.






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Encyclopedia


Interstitial fluid (or tissue fluid) is a solution which bathes and surrounds the cells of multicellular animals. It is the main component of the extracellular fluid
Extracellular fluid

Extracellular fluid usually denotes all body fluid outside of cells. The remainder is called intracellular fluid.In some animals, including mammals, the extracellular fluid can be divided into two major subcompartments, interstitial fluid and blood plasma....
, which also includes plasma
Blood plasma

Blood plasma is the liquid component of blood, in which the blood cells are suspended. It makes up about 55% of total blood volume. It is composed of mostly water , and contains dissolved proteins, glucose, clotting factors, mineral ions, Hormone and carbon dioxide ....
 and transcellular fluid
Transcellular fluid

Transcellular fluid is the portion of total body water contained within epithelial lined spaces.. It is the smallest component of extracellular fluid, which also includes interstitial fluid and Blood plasma....
.

On average, a person has about 11 litres (2.4 imperial gallons) of interstitial fluid providing the cells of the body with nutrients and a means of waste removal.

Production and Removal


Plasma and interstitial fluid are very similar. Plasma, the major component in blood, communicates freely with interstitial fluid through pore
Pore

Pore may refer to:In animal biology and microbiology:* Sweat pore, an anatomical structure of the skin of humans used for secretion of sweat...
s and intercellular clefts in capillary
Capillary

Capillaries are the smallest of a body's blood vessels, measuring 5-10 micrometre in diameter, which connect arterioles and venules, and enable the interchange of water, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and many other nutrient and waste chemical substances between blood and surrounding tissue s....
 endothelium
Endothelium

The endothelium is the thin layer of cell that line the interior surface of blood vessels, forming an interface between circulating blood in the lumen and the rest of the vessel wall....
.

Formation of tissue fluid


Hydrostatic pressure is generated by the pumping force of the heart
Heart

The heart is a muscle organ in all vertebrates responsible for pumping blood through the blood vessels by repeated, rhythmic contractions, or a similar structure in annelids, mollusks, and arthropods....
. It pushes water out of the capillaries.

The water potential
Water potential

Water potential is the potential energy of water relative to pure free water in reference conditions. It quantifies the tendency of water to move from one area to another due to osmosis, gravity, mechanical pressure, or matrix effects including surface tension....
 is created due to the inability of large solutes to pass through the capillary walls. This buildup of solutes induces osmosis
Osmosis

Osmosis is the diffusion of a solvent through a Semipermeable membrane, from a solution of low solute concentration to a solution with high solute concentration , up a solute concentration gradient....
. The water passes from a high concentration (of water) outside of the vessels to a low concentration inside of the vessels, in an attempt to reach an equilibrium
Chemical equilibrium

In a chemical process, chemical equilibrium is the state in which the Activity or concentrations of the reactants and products have no net change over time....
. The osmotic pressure drives water back into the vessels. Because the blood in the capillaries is constantly flowing, equilibrium is always reached.

The balance between the two forces is different at different points in the capillaries. At the arterial end of the vessel, the hydrostatic pressure is greater than the osmotic pressure, so the net movement (see net flux) favors water and other solutes being passed into the tissue fluid. At the venous end, the osmotic pressure is greater, so the net movement favours substances being passed back into the capillary. This difference is created by the direction of the flow of blood and the imbalance in solutes created by the net movement of water favoring the tissue fluid.

Removal of tissue fluid

To prevent a build-up of tissue fluid surrounding the cells in the tissue, the lymphatic system
Lymphatic system

The lymphatic system in vertebrates is a network of conduits that carry a clear fluid called lymph. It also includes the lymphoid tissue through which the lymph travels....
 plays a part in the transport of tissue fluid. Tissue fluid can pass into the surrounding lymph
Lymph

Lymph is the fluid that is formed as the interstitial fluid. It enters the lymph vessels by filtration. The lymph then travels to at least one lymph node before emptying ultimately into the right or the left subclavian vein, where it mixes back with blood....
 vessels, and eventually ends up rejoining the blood.

Sometimes the removal of tissue fluid does not function correctly, and there is a build-up. This causes swelling, and can often be seen around the feet
Foot

The foot is an anatomical structure found in many animals. It is the terminal portion of a limb which bears weight and allows locomotion. In many animals with feet, the foot is a separate organ at the terminal part of the leg made up of one or more segments or bones, generally including claws or nails....
 and ankles, for example Elephantiasis
Elephantiasis

Elephantiasis is a disease that is characterized by the thickening of the skin and underlying tissues, especially in the legs and genitals. In some cases, the disease can cause certain body parts, such as the scrotum, to swell to the size of a softball or basketball ....
. The position of swelling is due to the effects of gravity.

Composition

Interstitial fluid consists of a water solvent containing amino acid
Amino acid

In chemistry, an amino acid is a molecule containing both amine and carboxyl functional groups. These molecules are particularly important in biochemistry, where this term refers to alpha-amino acids with the general formula H2NCHRCOOH, where R is an organic substituent....
s, sugar
Sugar

Sugar is a class of edible crystalline substances, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose. Human taste buds interpret its flavor as sweet. Sugar as a basic food carbohydrate primarily comes from sugar cane and from sugar beet, but also appears in fruit, honey, sorghum, sugar maple , and in many other sources....
s, fatty acid
Fatty acid

In chemistry, especially biochemistry, a fatty acid is a carboxylic acid often with a long unbranched aliphatic tail , which is either saturation or Unsaturated compound....
s, coenzyme
Coenzyme

Many enzymes require a cofactor for catalytic activity, accelerating the transformation of a specific substrate to a particular product. The inactive protein, without the cofactor is called an apoenzyme, while the complete enzyme with cofactor is the holoenzyme....
s, hormone
Hormone

Hormones are chemicals released by cells that affect cells in other parts of the body. Only a small amount of hormone is required to alter cell metabolism....
s, neurotransmitter
Neurotransmitter

Neurotransmitters are chemistry which relay, amplify and modulate signals between a neuron and another cell . Neurotransmitters are packaged into vesicles that cluster beneath the membrane on the presynaptic side of a synapse, and are released into the synaptic cleft, where they bind to receptors in the membrane on the postsynaptic side of...
s, salt
Salt

A salt, in chemistry, is defined as the product formed from the neutralisation reaction of acids and base . Salts are ionic compounds composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically electric charge ....
s, as well as waste products from the cells.

The composition of tissue fluid depends upon the exchanges between the cells in the tissue
Biological tissue

Tissue is a cellular organizational level intermediate between cells and a complete organism. Hence, a tissue is an ensemble of cells, not necessarily identical, but from the same origin, that together carry out a specific function....
 and the blood
Blood

Blood is a specialized bodily fluid that delivers necessary substances to the body's Cell s ? such as nutrients and oxygen ? and transports waste products away from those same cells....
. This means that tissue fluid has a different composition in different tissues and in different areas of the body.

Not all of the contents of the blood passes into the tissue, which means that tissue fluid and blood are not the same. Red blood cells, platelets and plasma
Blood plasma

Blood plasma is the liquid component of blood, in which the blood cells are suspended. It makes up about 55% of total blood volume. It is composed of mostly water , and contains dissolved proteins, glucose, clotting factors, mineral ions, Hormone and carbon dioxide ....
 proteins cannot pass through the walls of the capillaries. The resulting mixture that does pass through is essentially blood plasma without the plasma proteins. Tissue fluid also contains some types of white blood cell
White blood cell

White blood cells , or leukocytes , are cell of the immune system defending the body against both infectious disease and foreign materials....
, which help combat infection.

Lymph
Lymph

Lymph is the fluid that is formed as the interstitial fluid. It enters the lymph vessels by filtration. The lymph then travels to at least one lymph node before emptying ultimately into the right or the left subclavian vein, where it mixes back with blood....
 is considered a part of the interstitial fluid. The lymphatic system
Lymphatic system

The lymphatic system in vertebrates is a network of conduits that carry a clear fluid called lymph. It also includes the lymphoid tissue through which the lymph travels....
 returns protein and excess interstitial fluid to the circulation.

The ionic composition of the interstitial fluid and blood plasma vary due to the Gibbs-Donnan effect
Gibbs-Donnan effect

The Gibbs-Donnan effect is a name for the behavior of ions near a semi-permeable membrane to sometimes fail to distribute evenly across the two sides of the membrane....
. This causes a slight difference in the concentration of cations and anions between the two fluid compartments

Physiological Function


Interstitial fluid bathes the cells
Cell (biology)

The cell is the structural and functional unit of all known Life organisms. It is the smallest unit of an organism that is classified as living, and is often called the building bricks of life....
 of the tissues
Biological tissue

Tissue is a cellular organizational level intermediate between cells and a complete organism. Hence, a tissue is an ensemble of cells, not necessarily identical, but from the same origin, that together carry out a specific function....
. This provides a means of delivering materials to the cells, intercellular communication, as well as removal of metabolic waste.

See also

  • Lymph
    Lymph

    Lymph is the fluid that is formed as the interstitial fluid. It enters the lymph vessels by filtration. The lymph then travels to at least one lymph node before emptying ultimately into the right or the left subclavian vein, where it mixes back with blood....
  • Blood plasma
    Blood plasma

    Blood plasma is the liquid component of blood, in which the blood cells are suspended. It makes up about 55% of total blood volume. It is composed of mostly water , and contains dissolved proteins, glucose, clotting factors, mineral ions, Hormone and carbon dioxide ....
  • Interstitial lung disease


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