Scientists have discovered what is known as a new human organ in the digestive system. It is called mesentery.
The organ was previously believed to consist of fragmented and disparate structures. Researchers found, however, that it is one continuous organ and outlined evidence to classify it as such in a review published recently.
J. Calvin Coffey a researcher from University Hospital Limerick in Ireland who first made the discovery has said they have an organ in the body which has not been acknowledged to date.
Coffey, a professor at the University of Limerick, reclassified the mesentery after discovering it was contiguous. His findings were published in November in the medical journal The Lancet Gastroenterology and Hepatology.
Whether the mesentery should be viewed as part of the intestinal, vascular, endocrine, cardiovascular or immunological systems is so far unclear as it has important roles in all of them.
Mesentery research goes back to the time of Leonardo DaVinci, who provided one of the earliest depictions of the mesentery, which was shown as contiguous.
For centuries, the new-organ was depicted that way until the findings of Treves in 1885. His description of the mesentery - which was disconnected - became the basis of medical literature.
About the Mesentery- It is a double fold of peritoneum, the lining of the cavity in the abs.
- It connects the intestine to the abdomen.
- Mesentery plays a central position in the body.
- Among its functions, it carries blood and lymphatic fluid between the intestine and the rest of the body.
- It also maintains the position of the intestine.
- It ensures that it’s connected with the abdominal wall without being in direct contact.
- It has a spiral formation in the abdomen.
- It is packaged along a spinal trajectory, starting in the upper abdomen and ending in the pelvis.
