Mesentery: the organ that wasn't in the biology books

Da Vinci had already mentioned in his papers on human anatomy; Toldt accurately presented a flat, continuous structure that ran like innards of the small and large intestine; Treves, shortly before the twentieth century, reneged on it to the point of the next generations not even to mention it in the books of biology and anatomy. Fortunately, this concept has been taken up and studied, especially by Professor J. Calvin Coffey and Professor D. Peter O'Leary.

Coffey and O'Leary describe the mesentery as a continuous organ that is in contact with other visceral organs, which emerges from the superior mesenteric root, permeating the intestine, from the duodenum to the rectum.

Anatomically, it has a function of suspension of the bowel of the posterior abdominal wall, preventing a collapse against the pelvis. As well as, facilitates a suspension of the colon, allowing a spiral configuration. Given the difficult access to this structure, there was a confirmation of the existence of the mesentery by means of computed tomography of the Visible Human Project.

With this, new investigations have arisen aiming to correlate the organ's role with an individual's health and the affection of diseases.

So far, it has that the mesentery:

- Can help the intestinal transit, which get slowly or even cease without this organ;

- Provides samples of intestinal bacterial components;

- May be related to the biopathology of abdominal disorders, such as colorectal cancer, intestinal obstruction by torsion, inflammatory bowel diseases, diverticular disease, herniations and also systemic diseases such as metabolic syndrome, diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular diseases, etc.

- Can provide and mediate local and systemic response, participating in the regulation and migration of B cells, T cells, natural killer cells and intestinal mucosal dendritic cells, as well as the production of C-reactive protein.

Most of the studies to obtain these data were performed in animals, as well as research without value, without human context, is carried out to confirm the knowledge extension of this organ and associated conditions.

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COFFEY, J Calvin; O'LEARY, D Peter. The mesentery: structure, function, and role in disease. The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology, [s.l.], v. 1, n. 3, p.238-247, nov. 2016. Elsevier BV. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s2468-1253(16)30026-7.