Dr David Carr-Locke and Dr Petros Benias of Mount Sinai Beth Israel Medical Center came across the organ which has been previously termed as interstitium while investigating a patient’s bile duct, searching for signs of cancer.
It was found that layers long thought to be dense, connective tissue are actually a series of fluid-filled compartments, which researchers have termed the “interstitium”.
The interstitium have previously gone unnoticed despite being one of the largest organs in the human body. These compartments are found beneath the skin, as well as lining the gut, lungs, blood vessels and muscles, and join together to form a network supported by a mesh of strong, flexible proteins.
New analysis published in the journal, Scientific Reports, is the first to identify these spaces collectively as a new organ and try to understand their function.
The team behind the discovery suggests the compartments may act as “shock absorbers” that protect body tissues from damage.
Cavities that did not match any previously known human anatomy were also noticed hence, New York University pathologist, Dr Neil Theise, was approached to ask for his expertise.
The researchers realised traditional methods for examining body tissues had missed the interstitium because the “fixing” method for assembling medical microscope slides involves draining away fluid – therefore destroying the organ’s structure.
Instead of their true identity as bodywide, fluid-filled shock absorbers, the squashed cells had been overlooked and considered a simple layer of connective tissue.
Having arrived at this conclusion, the scientists realised this structure was found not only in the bile duct, but surrounding many crucial internal organs.
According to Dr Theise, the finding has potential to drive dramatic advances in medicine, including the possibility that the direct sampling of interstitial fluid may become a powerful diagnostic tool.
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