Scientists Discover A Brand New Human Organ

The New Human organ is called the interstitium, and cushions and protects the body’s other organs
Our bodies are full of dozens of organs, all performing unique and specialized tasks. Now, new research has discovered one more: the interstitium, a fluid-filled membrane beneath our skin that cushions and protects the other organs inside our bodies.

The researchers were studying tissue in some patients’ bile ducts when they noticed some strange pattern in the tissue surrounding the ducts. They weren’t sure exactly what that tissue was, so they decided to study it more. Examining tissue all over the body, they kept finding these same weirdly patterned tissues.

The researchers explored further by flash freezing some of these tissues and looking at them under a microscope. They found that these weird tissues were made of strong webs of protein surrounding large sacs of fluid, and they could be found nearly everywhere in the body.

The scientists believe that these tissues are part of a new organ, that they’ve dubbed the interstitium. The researchers suspect that an interstitium is a form of ‘shock absorber’ for our organs, cushioning them from impacts and allowing them to expand and contract. The fluid contained inside the tissue could also play all kinds of unknown roles.

So how did such a big organ stay undiscovered for so long? Primarily, it has to do with how scientists study biological tissue. In the past, when researchers would collect samples of tissue to study, they would cut them with a scalpel, which would damage the tissue and drain the fluid. When the scientists would look at that damaged tissue, all they’d see is the dense fibers.

In this case, however, the researchers were using a new piece of equipment called Probe-based Confocal Laser Endomicroscopy (PCLE), which lets them look at internal tissues directly without cutting or damaging them. Using this technology, the researchers could pick up the telltale patterns more clearly.

So is the interstitium our newest organ? Probably, but it’s not easy to just declare a part of the body a new organ. There’s a lot more research that has to be done, including confirming how extensive the interstitium is and exactly what it does. But with a little more study, the interstitium might officially become our 80th organ sometime soon.

we are expecting updates in the different anatomy and biology textbooks as regards this development and discovery