New status for the mesentery.

Researchers have muted an idea that a part of the digestive system should be upgraded to an organ status. The mesentery according to a new medical journal report, a connective tissue that winds around our digestive organs, holding them in place isn’t a fragmented structure as once thought, but actually one contiguous structure. “The anatomic description that had been laid down over 100 years of anatomy was incorrect. This organ is far from fragmented and complex,” said study author J. Calvin Coffey, from the University of Limerick, Ireland, in a press statement. “It is simply one continuous structure,” winding from the small intestine down to the rectum. Medically speaking, an organ is self-contained and has a very specific vital job – think brain, kidneys and heart. Many, but not all, organs have a distinct functional unit, the study authors wrote in the Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology journal. But there are still many questions about how the mesentery functions. “The functional unit of the mesentery is unknown, and whether a distinctive cell type is primarily responsible for its functionality should be investigated,” they said. continue