Abstract
In order to function, the cells of a multicellular animal must take up nutrients, discard metabolic wastes, and receive chemical messages from hormones. These substances can only pass through the cell membrane if they are dissolved in water, and for this reason, every living cell must be surrounded by an extracellular aqueous medium, the interstitial fluid. In vertebrates, interstitial fluid, or lymph, is supplied with oxygen, nutrients, and hormones from blood within the capillaries of the closed circulatory system and returns carbon dioxide and other waste materials back to the blood for elimination. Insects and other arthropods have an open circulatory system with no distinction between the blood and interstitial fluid, so the body fluid is termed hemolymph and circulates freely throughout the body cavity.
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