Interstitium

The recently re-described fluid-filled compartment within and between human tissues — collagen-supported sinuses draining to lymph, present in the submucosae, dermis, peri-bronchial and peri-arterial soft tissues, and fascia. Probe-based confocal laser endomicroscopy made them visible in vivo where standard slide- preparation had collapsed them. A reading list around four threads: the original Benias 2018 finding and its published debate (Mestres-Ventura 2019 commentary, Benias 2019 reply, Cenaj-Theise 2021 continuity follow-up); the pre-modern fluid-physiology foundation (Aukland and Reed 1993, Wiig and Swartz 2012); the cancer-microenvironment programme (Heldin et al. 2004 on tumour interstitial pressure, Swartz and Lund 2012 on flow-and-immunity, Munson on glioblastoma); and the adjacent literatures — fascia and connective tissue (Stecco; Langevin and Yandow 2002 primary correlation of acupuncture meridians to connective-tissue planes, Langevin 2006 signalling hypothesis), the brain's glymphatic system and meningeal lymphatics (Iliff 2012, Xie 2013 on sleep- driven clearance, Louveau 2015 on the rediscovered CNS lymphatic vessels), and the mechanotransduction underpinning (Engler-Discher 2006 on matrix elasticity directing cell fate). Theise's 2023 *Notes on Complexity* is the intellectual frame within which the *system, not organ* characterisation makes sense.

view the territory

articles

Reading the interstitium literature

A chronological and conceptual reading list for the contemporary interstitium literature — from the pre-modern Bergen-school physiology of Aukland and Reed through Wiig and Swartz's 2012 synthesis, the Benias et al. 2018 *Scientific Reports* paper that put the construct in the popular press, the European Journal of Anatomy debate of 2019, the Cenaj-Theise 2021 continuity follow-up, the cancer-microenvironment programme, the brain's glymphatic and meningeal-lymphatic adjacencies, the fascia and connective-tissue adjacencies, and the mechanotransduction framework on which much of the post-2018 clinical work rests. Where the disagreements live and how the construct arrived at its present shape.

concepts

Interstitium

people

Adam J. Engler · Antoine Louveau · Carl-Henrik Heldin · Dennis E. Discher · Helene Langevin · Helge Wiig · Jeffrey J. Iliff · Jonathan Kipnis · Knut Aukland · Maiken Nedergaard · Melody A. Swartz · Neil Theise · Odise Cenaj · Pedro Mestres-Ventura · Petros Benias · Rolf K. Reed

§ sources