Mesentery has been classified as an organ
So what is the mesentery? It's a double fold of peritoneum - the lining of the abdominal cavity - that attaches our intestine to the wall of our abdomen, and keeps everything locked in place.
The new organ is found in our digestive systems, and was long thought to be made up of fragmented, separate structures. But recent research has shown that it's actually one, continuous organ.
The evidence for the organ's reclassification is now published in The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology.
"In the paper, which has been peer reviewed and assessed, we are now saying we have an organ in the body which hasn’t been acknowledged as such to date," said J Calvin Coffey, a researcher from the University Hospital Limerick in Ireland, who first discovered that the mesentery was an organ.
PR:
https://www.ul.ie/research/blog/irish-surgeon-identifies-emerging-area-medical-science
Article:
http://www.sciencealert.com/it-s-official-a-brand-new-human-organ-has-been-classified
Paper:
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/langas/article/PIIS2468-1253(16)30026-7/abstract
#medicine #reserach #health #mesentery #humananatomy
That is somewhat unexpected, it goes to show we still have much to learn
ReplyDeleteAn organ must have a function and it would be strange that such a structure visible in plain sight hasn't been noteworthy since we are doing abdominal surgery, but I read in the ScienceAlert article that 'its function is still poorly understood' Happyfully, science still works: maybe it has the sole function to attach the intestines without being a source of diseases, eventually....
ReplyDeleteBertrand Nelson: I don't know about humans, but in a lot of small mammals it's a primary fat storage and metabolism organ. Rabbits store almost all their body fat there, if I recall my biochem classes correctly.
ReplyDeleteIt's very well known and described in traditional medicine https://www.wikiwand.com/en/San_Jiao
ReplyDeleteJohn Bump I didn't know, I was only referring to the article.... But you're not certain yourself :-)Davor Maksimović In the site, it's said 'There is no organ in Western medicine which corresponds to San Jiao, but The Triple-Burner is said to occupy the Thoracic and Abdomino-Pelvic cavities', ok but the mesentery occupies only the Abdomino-Pelvic cavity, not the thoracic one, right? The Western and Chinese deifinitions don't recover the same body parts. Can you be more specific?
ReplyDeleteBertrand Nelson: I am very rarely certain of anything, because I'm wrong too often.
ReplyDeleteJohn Bump Yes Mad scientist ! 8-)
ReplyDeleteLet a little humor ring in the new year...........and the new human organ. :-)
ReplyDeletehttps://lh3.googleusercontent.com/BCTwfPQkJlgImJP31xiaOybqOcUYbnNDk2vNImdjTuf3IFwcfnlE5pff3x_pZx4P9tqg2oDLDxgfCQ=s0