Lab 7: Lymphatic System
(Adapted from lab created by Dr. Shizuka Yamada-Hunter)
Part 1. Lymphatic Flow Overview
We will first watch a video: “Lymphatic Flow Overview,” by the Khan Academy, then answer/complete
the following questions/instructions:
1) TRACE THE FLOW OF LYMPH: In this exercise, you will trace the pathway of lymph flow from
starting location to the point at which the lymph is delivered into the cardiovascular system.
Add arrows to the following diagram to illustrate the flow of blood and lymph (hint the table in
Q3 might help too):
2) Draw a diagram of a lymph capillary that illustrates how lymph is pulled into the capillary (in
other words, draw along with the video as the narrator illustrates how this happens):
3) The following table compares/contrasts the Circulatory system with the Lymphatic system.
Complete the table by matching the words/sentences to the right place.
Note: this table can be a good study tool so you can build off your knowledge of the circulatory
system in order to understand lymphatic flow.
Circulatory Lymphatic
Blood
Flows towards & away from the heart
Blood is pumped by the heart towards all
parts of the body
Blood flows in arteries, capillaries, and veins
(a closed, continuous circuit)
Blood is filtered by the kidneys
Blood is made of plasma containing red and
white blood cells and platelets
Kidneys filter out small molecules and ions
from the blood.
A) Flows only in one direction (towards the heart)
B) Lymph flows in an open, circuit from tissues to lymphatic capillaries to vena cava
C) Lymph
D) Lymph nodes filter out some debris as well as allow for immune cells to kill off pathogens or
cancer cells present in lymph.
E) Lymph is not pumped. It passively flows from the tissues into the capillaries.
F) Lymph is filtered in lymph nodes located throughout the body
G) Filtered lymph is ready to return to the cardiovascular system and is clear to milky white.
Part 2) Lymphatic System Organs
Watch the video: “Introduction to the Lymphatic System,” You will also practice where the major
organs are in the body through the Weekly Visible Body material. Identify and label the following
structures on the models available in the classroom, and have me check you off when you are done:
Face model: ______________
Identify the lingual, palatine, and pharyngeal tonsils
Body model: _____________
identify the spleen
Identify where the thymus would be
Lymph node model: ____________
Identify the following structures
afferent vessel and efferent vessels
hilum
cortex
medulla
capsule
valve
trabeculae
lymphatic nodules
Lymph node slide: ___________
Identify the following structures:
Capsule
Cortex
lymphatic nodule
medulla
trabecula
Spleen model ____________
Identify the following structures:
Hilum
splenic artery
splenic vein
Spleen slide ____________
Watch the video Histology of the spleen, then identify the following structures
capsule
trabecula
white pulpi
red pulp
4) The largest lymphatic organ, the spleen, filters blood of foreign organisms and particles,
eliminates aged erythrocytes, and is a blood reservoir for platelets. The spleen is the main
organ that filters blood, like the lymph nodes being the main organs that filter the lymph.
Describe the Red Pulp and the White Pulp? What different functions do they do?
