A cistern is a container that collects and/or stores water . The concept, which derives from the Latin language, is usually used with reference to the tank that is located beneath the earth and is intended for the collection and storage of water that comes from a river or 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 damaged the Valens Aqueduct .
The Basilica Cistern provided water to the Great Palace of Constantinople and other buildings. It is estimated that its capacity is around 80,000 cubic meters of water.
Currently, the tank of a toilet, toilet or toilet is also called a cistern. The water needed to clean the appliance is stored in this receptacle. The cistern can be located above the toilet, next to its bowl or inside a wall behind it.
The vehicle used to transport water or another liquid is also called a tanker. The tanker plane , for example, transports fuel and can refuel other aircraft in flight. A tanker truck , for its part, can transport gasoline, water for irrigation and other fluids by land.
In the human body, finally, there are structures known as cisternae. The Pecquet cistern , also called the chyle cistern , receives lymph that comes from certain lymphatic vessels, specifically the three largest, which are the lumbar trunks and the intestinal trunk .
Pecquet's cistern continues upward through the thoracic duct , also known by other names: thoracic duct, Pecquet's duct, alimentary duct, chyliferous duct, Van Hoorne's canal or left lymphatic duct . It is the largest lymphatic vessel in the entire body, which makes it a fundamental part of the lymphatic system, since it collects the largest amount of lymph in the body.
Lymph is carried by the left and right lumbar trunks to 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 at the back 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 located in the posterior part of the abdominal aorta , on the anterior surface of the bodies of the lumbar vertebrae number one and two, which are identified with the initials L1 and L2 . In that part, the beginning of the primary lymphatic vessel, the thoracic duct, is formed.
Other mammal species 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 towards the left dorsal; Guinea pigs, for their part, have it to the left and it drains into the left brachiocephalic vein.
In eukaryotic cells, it is possible to detect the Golgi cisterna (or Golgi apparatus ), which is involved in the final phase of production of certain proteins, through the packaging and modification of vesicles. It is part of the so-called endomembrane system and is made up of approximately eighty dictiosomes (depending on the type of cell), which, in turn, are made up of an average of fifty flattened, membrane -covered cisternae.