Fig. 5: Ageing-related changes in lymphatics of the nasal mucosa and hard palate.

a, Immunofluorescence images of whole mounts comparing hard palate lymphatics in adult (8 weeks of age) and aged (90 weeks of age) Prox1–GFP mice. Like lymphatics, venous sinusoids are PROX1⁺. Ageing-related reductions in the lymphatic plexus are outlined by white dashed line boxes that mark regions of interest (ROIs) near the greater palatine nerve (ROI-1) and incisive foramen (ROI-2). Scale bars, 500 μm. Representative of n = 9 mice (adult) and n = 8 mice (aged) from three independent experiments. b, Comparison of lymphatic diameter, VEGFR3⁺ lymphatic area, LYVE1 intensity and number of lymphatic valves in ROI-1 and ROI-2 in adult (8–10 weeks of age; n = 9) and aged (86–95 weeks of age; n = 8) Prox1–GFP mice. Each dot is the value for one mouse. The error bars indicate mean ± s.e.m. P values were calculated by two-tailed Welch’s t-test. c, Immunofluorescence images of whole mounts comparing nasal lymphatics in adult (8 weeks of age) and aged (90 weeks of age) Prox1–GFP mice. Staining as in panel a. ROI-3 marks the measured region of PROX1⁺/VEGFR3⁺ nasal lymphatics (red) for data in panel d. Unlike PROX1⁺/VEGFR3⁺ nasal lymphatics, which are abundant in young adults but less in aged mice, PROX1⁺ venous sinusoids (green; marked by green arrows) are more abundant in aged mice, as previously described⁵⁰. Scale bars, 500 μm. Representative of n = 4 mice (adult) and n = 4 mice (aged) from three independent experiments. d, Comparison of lymphatic diameter and PROX1⁺/VEGFR3⁺ lymphatic area in nasal lymphatics of adult (8–10 weeks of age; n = 4) and aged (86–95 weeks of age; n = 4) Prox1–GFP mice. Each dot is the value for one mouse. The error bars indicate mean ± s.e.m. P values were calculated by two-tailed Mann–Whitney U-tests. Anatomical positions are indicated in the bottom left or top right corner.

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