Scientists found a ‘new organ,’ but it might not be what you’re expecting
The interstitium, a layer of tissue around our organs, has always been in the human body. Some scientists say it should be considered its own organ.
The human body is incredibly complicated, and it’s no surprise that we haven’t cracked every code that makes our fleshy forms run smoothly. Researchers are constantly finding new mechanisms by which our immune systems work, our cells function, and our muscles move. But far less often—if ever—do we hear that scientists have identified a new organ.
But in a report out last week in the journal Scientific Reports, doctors identified what they think could be a previously unrecognized organ. The structure is a network of tissues which is found throughout the body, wrapping around the entire digestive tract,the lungs, and every artery and vein. The medical researchers dubbed the network the interstitium, and they argue should be deemed its own organ. Whether it will make the cut as a stand alone organ will depend on future research that further studies its composition and functionality. (Adding a new organ to the books takes far more research than one study.) Regardless of its final status, though, the newly discovered structural formation may help doctors and other scientists better understand how diseases begin and spread.
What is it?
Unlike a more solid, contained organ like the heart or the liver, the interstitium is a network of tissue that surrounds nearly every organ system in the body. Just as our skin hugs us on the outside, this tissue layer wraps around organs inside our bodies.
Previously, researchers thought the interstitium was simply a layer of connective tissue. Connective tissue is absolutely not anything new. We’ve known about it—and how it functions—for a long time. Connective tissue typically has very few cells and instead is mostly constructed of various cartilage and other fibers that together form a strong structure that holds your organs in place or to connect one bone to another, or a muscle to a bone.
But there was something different about this particular connective tissue. When researchers looked more closely, they saw that between the spread-out cells was a series of fluid-filled sacs. A series of strong but flexible tissue filled with functioning proteins connected all these sacs together. This, the researchers deemed wasn’t the same as other connective tissue found throughout the body and thus could be its own entity, which they dubbed the interstitium.
Read More at :
https://www.popsci.com/interstitium-new-human-organ-anatomy
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