The human body is starting off the new year with a new organ, although the structure has been part of our digestive systems the entire time and was previously thought to be nothing more than a fragmented series of individual structures, according to a newly-published study.
Writing in the journal The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology, J. Calvin Coffey, a surgeon and a professor at the University of Limerick in Ireland, and colleagues presented evidence that reveals that these apparently separate pieces are, in fact, part of an organ called the mesentery.
The mesentery is an organ in the body in its own right, according to new research at the University of Limerick in IrelandJ Calvin Coffey / The Lancet Gastroenterology and 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,” Professor Coffey explained in a statement. “The anatomic description that had been laid down over 100 years of anatomy was incorrect. This organ is far from fragmented and complex. It is simply one continuous structure.”
“When we approach it like every other organ… we can categorize abdominal disease in terms of this organ,” he added. “This is relevant universally as it affects all of us. Up to now there was no such field as mesenteric science. Now we have established anatomy and the structure.”
Next step is to determine the function of the mesentery
According to ScienceAlert, the mesentery is a double fold of peritoneum (the substance that lines the abdominal cavity) which is attached to digestive tract organs including the stomach, the small intestine, and the pancreas. Leonardo da Vinci was one of the first individuals to describe the new organ, but for centuries it was dismissed as a largely insignificant structure.
However, in 2012, Coffey’s team conducted a series of microscopic examinations that led them to conclude that the mesentery was actually one continuous part of the body, and not a group of smaller individual parts. As of last year, medical students began being taught that it was actually an organ, but the new study lays out additional evidence to support this line of thinking.
“During the initial research, we noticed in particular that the mesentery, which connects the gut to the body, was one continuous organ. Up to that it was regarded as fragmented,” said Coffey, adding that the next step was to determine its function. “If you understand the function you can identify abnormal function, and then you have disease. Put them all together and you have the field of mesenteric science… the basis for a whole new area of science.”
So what exactly does all of this mean? As LiveScience explained, now that doctors know that the mesentery is one continuous organ, it could be looked at as a potential way for diseases to spread from one part of the gut to another. Furthermore, it could open up new pathways for surgery, but first they need to determine its function, and what body system it is actually part of.
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