12 March 2010

Collateral flow

"Fluorescent dye bypasses an injury on the main vein of a dicotyledonous leaf."
An interesting visualization of how nutrient flow can bypass an injury by travelling through collateral channels.  The same thing happens in the human body.  Not indicated at the source is information as to whether the lesion was acute and the collaterals preexisting, or whether the hole was created slowly, inducing the bypass channels to develop; judging by the pattern proximal to the injury, I would guess the former.  Very interesting in any case.

Click photo to enlarge.

Image courtesy of E.Katifori/Rockefeller University, via Fresh Photons.

1 comment:

  1. It IS amazing. Miraculous, really.

    Sometimes, when we do cardiac caths and are able to visualize the coronary arteries that feed the heart, we find that in many of our older patients, collateral arteries have developed that have allowed the heart to continue getting the oxygen it needs in spite of the blockage in the main coronary arteries.

    I never cease to be amazed at how the body, and nature, is designed.

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