RESEARCH ARTICLE Morphological and Molecular Characterization of Human Dermal Lymphatic Collectors Viktoria Hasselhof1☯, Anastasia Sperling1☯, Kerstin Buttler1, Philipp StroÈ bel2, JuÈ rgen Becker1, Thiha Aung3,4, Gunther Felmerer3, JoÈ rg Wilting1* 1 Institute of Anatomy and Cell Biology, University Medical School GoÈttingen, GoÈttingen, Germany, 2 Institute of Pathology, University Medical Center GoÈttingen, GoÈttingen, Germany, 3 Division of Trauma Surgery, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, University Medical Center GoÈttingen, GoÈttingen, Germany, a11111 4 Center of Plastic, Hand and Reconstructive Surgery, University Medical Center Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany ☯ These authors contributed equally to this work. *
[email protected] Abstract OPEN ACCESS Citation: Hasselhof V, Sperling A, Buttler K, StroÈbel Millions of patients suffer from lymphedema worldwide. Supporting the contractility of lym- P, Becker J, Aung T, et al. (2016) Morphological phatic collectors is an attractive target for pharmacological therapy of lymphedema. How- and Molecular Characterization of Human Dermal ever, lymphatics have mostly been studied in animals, while the cellular and molecular Lymphatic Collectors. PLoS ONE 11(10): e0164964. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0164964 characteristics of human lymphatic collectors are largely unknown. We studied epifascial lymphatic collectors of the thigh, which were isolated for autologous transplantations. Our Editor: Robert W Dettman, Northwestern University, UNITED STATES immunohistological studies identify additional markers for LECs (vimentin, CCBE1). We show and confirm differences between initial and collecting lymphatics concerning the Received: July 1, 2016 markers ESAM1, D2-40 and LYVE-1. Our transmission electron microscopic studies reveal Accepted: October 4, 2016 two types of smooth muscle cells (SMCs) in the media of the collectors with dark and light Published: October 20, 2016 cytoplasm.