{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,23]],"date-time":"2026-10-23T20:33:45Z","timestamp":1792787625035,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":54,"publisher":"American Society for Clinical Investigation","issue":"13","funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000002","name":"National Institutes of Health","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["EY026260,HL121036,HL141857,DE027891,DK114645,K08EY024674,R01EY030501,K08 HL132110"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["EY026260,HL121036,HL141857,DE027891,DK114645,K08EY024674,R01EY030501,K08 HL132110"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000002","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"name":"American Cancer Center","award":["#IRG-16-181-57"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["#IRG-16-181-57"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2020,7,9]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Glaucoma surgeries, such as trabeculectomy, are performed to lower intraocular pressure to reduce risk of vision loss. These surgeries create a new passage in the eye that reroutes the aqueous humor outflow to the subconjunctival space, where the fluid is presumably absorbed by the conjunctival lymphatics. Here, we characterized the development and function of the ocular lymphatics using transgenic lymphatic reporter mice and rats. We found that the limbal and conjunctival lymphatic networks are progressively formed from a primary lymphatic vessel that grows from the nasal-side medial canthus region at birth. This primary lymphatic vessel immediately branches out, invades the limbus and conjunctiva, and bidirectionally encircles the cornea. As a result, the distribution of the ocular lymphatics is significantly polarized toward the nasal side, and the limbal lymphatics are directly connected to the conjunctival lymphatics. New lymphatic sprouts are produced mainly from the nasal-side limbal lymphatics, posing the nasal side of the eye as more responsive to fluid drainage and inflammatory stimuli. Consistent with this polarized distribution of the ocular lymphatics, a higher drainage efficiency was observed in the nasal side than the temporal side of the eye when injected with a fluorescent tracer. In contrast, blood vessels are evenly distributed at the anterior surface of the eyes. Also, we found that these distinct vascular distribution patterns were conserved in human eyes. Together, our study demonstrated that the ocular surface lymphatics are more densely present in the nasal side and uncovered the potential clinical benefits in selecting the nasal side as a glaucoma surgery site to improve fluid drainage.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1172\/jci.insight.135121","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,7,8]],"date-time":"2020-07-08T11:01:18Z","timestamp":1594206078000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":48,"title":["Organogenesis and distribution of the ocular lymphatic vessels in the anterior eye"],"prefix":"10.1172","volume":"5","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6345-4219","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Yifan","family":"Wu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Surgery and"},{"name":"Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, Keck School of Medicine of USC, USC, Los Angeles, California, USA."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Young Jin","family":"Seong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Surgery and"},{"name":"Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, Keck School of Medicine of USC, USC, Los Angeles, California, USA."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kin","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Surgery and"},{"name":"Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, Keck School of Medicine of USC, USC, Los Angeles, California, USA."},{"name":"College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific, Western University of Health Sciences, Pomona, California, USA."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Dongwon","family":"Choi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Surgery and"},{"name":"Department of Biochemistry and Molecular 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USA."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sandy","family":"Zhang-Nunes","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Ophthalmology, USC Roski Eye Institute, Keck School of Medicine of USC, USC, Los Angeles, California, USA."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"James C.","family":"Tan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Doheny Eye Institute and Department of Ophthalmology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, UCLA, Los Angeles, California, USA."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6549-2611","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Masatsugu","family":"Ema","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Stem Cells and Human Disease Models Research Center for Animal Life, Science Shiga University of Medical Science, Seta Tsukinowa-cho, Otsu, Shiga, Japan."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tina 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