Volume, Mechanism, and Direction of Flow
In adults, the thoracic duct transports up to 4 L of lymph per day.
The lymph transport in the thoracic duct is mainly caused by the action of breathing, aided by the duct's smooth muscle and by internal valves which prevent the lymph from flowing back down again.
There are also two valves at the junction of the duct with the left subclavian vein, to prevent the flow of venous blood into the duct.
Read more about this topic: Thoracic Duct
Famous quotes containing the words direction and/or flow:
“The young ... look into visages dull-eyed, long-toothed, wattle-necked, and chop-fallen, something they have never been and which they cannot imagine ever being.... If it occurs to a young person, looking at us, that this is the direction in which he himself travels, how can he forgive, let alone bear the sight of, us, who constantly bring him the bad news of our own faces, bitter signposts pointing to his own destination?”
—Jessamyn West (1902–1984)
“For as the interposition of a rivulet, however small, will occasion the line of the phalanx to fluctuate, so any trifling disagreement will be the cause of seditions; but they will not so soon flow from anything else as from the disagreement between virtue and vice, and next to that between poverty and riches.”
—Aristotle (384–322 B.C.)