If you thought medical evolution has advanced enough to map the entire human body, then it seems we were wrong. Well, at least the experts were. In an important and significant discovery in the science of human anatomy, scientists have actually discovered a new organ in the body.
And to think we had it all pinned down to accuracy. It seems all the diagrams now online and print will have to change. To think, those involved in human pathology and anatomy actually missed an organ.
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Previous to this fascinating revelation, our bodies according to science have only five major organs being the brain, heart, kidneys lungs and liver. The others that come next line are reproductive organs and of course the skin. The human body has 80 organs in total and now we may have 81.
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Although the new organ may not be considered a part of the G5, it is nonetheless being considered a significant part of the human anatomy and also plays a big role in the functioning of it.
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According to Scientists, the new organ will also reveal the process of how cancer spreads in the body which could lead to formulating of path-breaking medicine and treatment. The surprising thing about the new organ is that it was discovered by accident.
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The new organ is being called the Interstitium. Previously medical experts thought that this was only layers of dense connective tissue but it has actually turned out to be a series of compartments filled with fluid existing beneath the skin. It also lines the gut, the lungs, muscles and blood vessels in our body.
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The interstitium is a network joined together by a mesh of strong flexible proteins. Its main function now has been identified as acting as a shock absorber for the body.
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The research on the new organ was published in the journal Scientific Reports and is the first study to have successfully identified the network as a new organ with specific functions. The Interstitial was never noticed before which is weird because it now happens to be one of the largest organs in the body.
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The interstitium was identified during a microendoscopy of the stomach being conducted on a patient at Mount Sinai Beth Israel Medical Center by Dr David Carr-Locke and Dr Petros Benias where a probe is inserted into the body through the oral cavity. The microscopic views of the gut revealed a dense wall of tissue which was surrounding the bile duct whose function is assisting in digestion.
The duo noticed cavities that were never previously known to human body. They consulted Doctor Neil Theise, pathologist at New York University.
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When these medical experts discovered this unexplained phenomenon, they contacted Neil Theise, a pathologist at New York University School of Medicine. After further research and studies, they concluded that it wasn’t just the stomach but in different areas of the body too.
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The main reason why the interstitium has never been discovered before is that of traditional methods of examining the human anatomy. The “fixing” method that assembled microscopic slides was destroying the structure of the organ by draining out fluids.
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Instead of identifying the shock absorber of the body, the squashed cells were disregarded and written off as simple layers of connective tissue. The researchers soon found that the interstitium exists in the bile duct and also surrounds many of the main internal organs. It acted as a cushion for the organs in the body and protected them from harm.
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Research ion the interstitium then included a Biopsy of the tissue taken from the bile ducts of 12 patients. The tissue was frozen for further study. The research on the new organ also revealed that it drained into the lymphatic system which is the vessel network that transports lymph throughout the body. This is also involved in maintaining the immunity of the body.
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This Interstitium contains approximately 1/5th of the total fluid volume of the human body; it acted like a highway of sorts for the fluid to move freely around the body. But now the biggest bummer about the organ is its most astonishing revelation that could explain how cancer spreads throughout the body. It is this very network that could be responsible for allowing cancer cells to move freely to other parts of the body.
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This revelation holds a huge significance for science which can now develop new tests and treatments for cancer by targeting and prohibiting the interstitium from aiding the flow of cancer.
According to Dr Theise “This finding has potential to drive dramatic advances in medicine, including the possibility that the direct sampling of interstitial fluid may become a powerful diagnostic tool,”
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