A cistern is a container that collects and / or stores water. The concept, which derives from the Latin language, is often used with reference to the deposit that is found under the ground and is used for the collection and storage of water that comes from a river or from precipitation.
These cisterns were common in ancient times to guarantee water reserves. In Turkey, for example, there is the Basilica Cistern, built in 532. This cistern was created by Emperor Justinian I as a reserve against an eventual attack that could damage the Valente Aqueduct.
The Basilica Cistern provided water to the Great Palace of Constantinople and other buildings. Its capacity is estimated to be around 80,000 cubic meters of water.
Currently, the tank of a toilet, toilet or toilet is also called a cistern. In this receptacle the water that is needed to clean the appliance is kept. The cistern can be located above the toilet, next to your toilet bowl, or within a wall behind it.
The vehicle used to transport water or other liquid is also called a tank. The tanker aircraft, to cite one case, moves fuel and can refuel other aircraft in flight. A tanker truck, for its part, can transport gasoline, irrigation water and other fluids by land.
Lastly, in the human body, there are structures known as cisterns. The Pecquet cistern, also called the chyle cistern, receives the lymph that comes from certain lymphatic vessels, specifically the three largest, which are the lumbar trunks and the intestinal trunk.
Chyli cistern continues upward through the duct chest, also known by other names: thoracic duct, pipe Pecquet, alimentary canal, lacteal duct, Van Hoorne’s channel or left lymph duct. It is the largest lymphatic vessel in the entire body, which makes it a fundamental part of the lymphatic system, as it collects the largest amount of lymph in the body.
Lymph is carried through the left and right lumbar trunks in various parts of the body: the pelvis, the lower extremities, the deep lymphatics of the abdomen (found in its walls), the adrenal glands, and the kidneys.
Pecquet’s cistern is a retroperitoneal structure; This means that it is located in the posterior part of the peritoneum, a membrane that protects the abdominal cavity of many species, including humans. The retroperitoneal space, simply put, is located between the back and the abdomen, that is, outside the peritoneum.
In humans, Pecquet’s cistern is found in the posterior part of the abdominal aorta, on the anterior aspect of the bodies of lumbar vertebrae number one and two, which are identified by the initials L1 and L2. In that part, the beginning of the primary lymphatic vessel, the thoracic duct, is formed.
Other species of mammals have this cistern in slightly different locations. Dogs, for example, have it to the left of the aorta, and sometimes in a ventral position; in cats, it is to the dorsal left; guinea pigs, on the other hand, have it to the left and it drains into the left brachiocephalic vein.
In eukaryotic cells, it is possible to detect the Golgi cistern (or Golgi apparatus), which is involved in the final phase of production of certain proteins, through packaging and modification of vesicles. It is part of the so-called endomembrane system and is made up of approximately eighty dictyosomes (depending on the class of cell), which, in turn, are made up of an average of fifty flattened and membrane- covered cisterns.
