Fig. 4

The appearance of thoracic duct lymph and interstitial fluid samples (a) and their corresponding levels of triglyceride and cholesterol (b). A cannula with an internal diameter of 0.58 mm and an external diameter of 0.96 mm (code: SV45) was inserted into the thoracic duct of an 8-week old pig. Lymph and interstitial fluid samples collected from this animal at different stages post-surgery were collected (a) and the levels of triglyceride and cholesterol in these samples are shown in (b). The sample labels are: 1: lymph from the thoracic duct, collected after about 30 h of fasting; 2–4: lymph from the thoracic duct after meals; 2: lymph harvested from 11 to 13 h post-surgery (14 mL of lymph in 2 h); 3: lymph harvested from 16 to 22 h post-surgery (42 mL of lymph in 5.5 h); 4: 23–33 h post-surgery; 5: interstitial fluid, cannula came out of the thoracic duct