[Anders Jahre-Award for young researchers 1993. Loose connective tissue and fluid balance. From static to dynamic...

Rolf K Reed, recipient of the 1993 Anders Jahre Prize for younger medical researchers, describes some newer aspects of loose (areolar) connective tissue physiology and shows how research in recent years has changed our understanding of the involvement of these tissues in the regulation of fluid balance. There is a dynamic relationship between loose connective tissue and fluid balance, as a result of which the development of oedema is normally inhibited. However, certain inflammatory reactions are accompanied by changes in the activity of these tissues which then "absorb" fluid from the capillaries. This feature seems to be partly related to hyaluronidase+, the metabolism of which is also dependent on connective tissue fluid balance.