Glancing at my nearby anatomy and physiology book reveals that there are, as we all known, 11 organ systems: skeletal, muscular, nervous, integumentary, reproductive, digestive, respiratory, lymphatic/immune, urinary, endocrine, and cardiovascular… and now there may be a twelfth headed our way. One would expect that anatomists have found out all there is about human tissues and so a new discovery is quite surprising. A network of fluid-filled spaces in the body’s tissues has recently been discovered or it may be that it’s always been noticed but never investigated. Until now.
These fluid-filled spaces were discovered in 2018 in connective tissues all over the body including below the skin, digestive tract, respiratory system, kidneys, and their adjacent muscles (Rettner, 2018). Up until today, anatomists assumed these tissue layers were just a dense wall of collagen, but it was discovered that this is not a wall but an extensive system like a highway of enclosed fluid. The discovers have named this tissue network the interstitium and argue that it is indeed a new organ system. But, before it be officially made a new system, it must first be formally recognized and accepted by the greater scientific community.
The reason scientists have overlooked this fluid system is that it did not appear on the standard microscope slides. Long-standing protocols of treating tissue samples with dyes causes the interstitium fluid system to collapse and disappear. A new imaging technique not based on dyes revealed its long- overlooked presence.
Thus far, the implications of a distinct tissue fluid system are far reaching. It may be the way cancer spreads through the body. And, while it may or may not be a “new” organ system, it may be the basis for the effectiveness of alternative therapies such as acupuncture, acupressure, shiatsu, and deep tissue mobilization methods such as Structural Integration are effective.
Paul Shane, Ph.D., LMT
Director, Academic Content
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References
Rettner, R. (2018, March 27). Meet your interstitium, a newfound “organ.” Scientific American, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ met-your-interstitium-a-newfound-organ/