UNIVERSITY OF LIMERICK, ALAN PLACE
A double membrane called the mesentery curls throughout the abdomen, enveloping the small intestine and anchoring the guts to the rest of the body. Scientists long regarded the mesentery as no more than a supporting feature, but J. Calvin Coffey and his colleagues at the University of Limerick, Ireland, have exposed the full anatomy of the mesentery, and now they propose elevating it to the status of an entirely new organ.
Coffey and Peter O’Leary of the University of Limerick laid out the evidence for this change in The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology in November.
“We are now saying we have an organ in the body which hasn't been acknowledged as such to date,” Coffey wrote in a press release, adding that “the anatomic description ...
