New human 'organ' that protects vital tissues identified through laser endomicroscopy

New Delhi : Scientists have identified a new human organ which can protect tissues of vital organs from tearing. This organ consists of a network of fluid-filled sections that act like shock absorbers and tissue protector. 

A research made by scientists at the New York University in the US reveals that layers of the body that was considered to be dense, connective tissues - below the skin’s surface, lining the digestive tract, lungs and urinary systems, and surrounding arteries, veins, and the fascia between muscles - are instead interconnected, fluid-filled compartments.

This series of spaces, maintained by a meshwork of strong (collagen) and flexible (elastin) connective tissue proteins is likely to act like shock absorbers that keep tissues from tearing as organs, muscles, and vessels squeeze, pump, and pulse as part of daily body function.

Scientists believe that this identified layer is a highway of moving fluid which may clarify as why cancer attack becomes much more likely to spread. Draining into the lymphatic system, the newly found network is the source of lymph, the fluid which is essential for the functioning of immune cells that generate inflammation.

In addition, the cells that exist in the gap and collagen bundles they line, change with age, and may contribute to the wrinkling of skin, the stiffening of limbs, and the progression of fibrotic, sclerotic and inflammatory diseases.

Further, researchers also came to know that more than half the body fluid resides within cells, and about a seventh inside the heart, blood vessels, lymph nodes, and lymph vessels. The remaining fluid is “interstitial”. This study is the first to define the interstitium as an organ in its own right, and as one of the largest of the body, researchers said.

No one saw these gaps before because of the medical field’s dependence on the examination of fixed tissue on microscope slides, assumed to offer the most exact view of biological reality. The “fixing” process makes bright details of cells and structures, but drains away any fluid.

Experts found that the removal of fluid as slides are due to the connective protein meshwork surrounding once fluid-filled compartments to look like a pancake, like the floors of a collapsed building.

“This fixation artifact of collapse has made a fluid-filled tissue type throughout the body appear solid in biopsy slides for decades, and our results correct for this to expand the anatomy of most tissues,” said Neil Theise, professor at NYU.

“This 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,” Theise said.

The study findings are based on the latest technology known as probe-based confocal laser endomicroscopy. It combines the slender camera-toting search which traditionally bends down the throat to view the insides of organs (an endoscope) with a laser that lights up tissues, and sensors that examine the reflected fluorescent patterns.

The kind of technique offers a microscopic view of living tissues instead of fixed ones. To conduct the study, researchers collected tissue specimens of bile ducts during twelve cancer surgeries that were removing the pancreas and the bile duct.

Minutes prior to clamping off blood flow to the target tissue, patients underwent confocal microscopy for live tissue imaging. Once the team understood this new space in images of bile ducts, they quickly recognised it throughout the body, wherever tissues moved or were compressed by force.

The cells lining the space are also extraordinary, maybe, liable for creating the supporting collagen bundles around them, researchers said. The cells may also be mesenchymal stem cells, said Theise, which are known to be competent of contributing to the formation of scar tissue seen in inflammatory diseases.

Lastly, the protein bundles seen in the space may possibly generate electrical current as they bend with the movements of organs and muscles, and may play a role in techniques like acupuncture, he said.

The findings and complete details of the study were published in the journal Scientific Reports.