The largest organ in the body may have just been discovered — and it could reshape our understanding of human anatomy
Researchers have identified a network of fluid-filled spaces surrounded by connective tissue that fills the spaces between our organs, surrounding and potentially protecting our insides throughout the body
By Kevin Loria
It might seem like we should already have identified all the structures in the human body, even if we don’t know the function of every cell and organ.
But that assumption might be very wrong, if the authors of a study newly published in the Nature journal Scientific Reports are correct.
In between the spaces in our bodies — beneath the skin, lining the gut and lungs, surrounding blood vessels and fascia between muscles, and more — there’s a fluid-filled network of tissue.
The idea that there’s tissue and fluid in these spaces isn’t new; interstitial fluid is one of the significant types of fluid in the body, though we didn’t know it was contained in these structures.
But the authors of the new study say this tissue has a unified structure and function throughout the body that makes it an organ. Using that definition, it could be the largest organ in the body, taking up a bigger volume than even our skin.