Scientists have discovered an organ inside the human body that has been hiding in plain sight. Meet mesentery, the 79th organ of the body found along the surface of the small and large intestines. Experts thought that the mesentery was just pieces of fragmented tissues but they were wrong; the mesentery might just be responsible for holding up the digestive tract. Without the mesentery, the digestive system would just be one huge mess.

According to the Independent, scientists have found that the mesentery is one continuous organ but still its function remains undetermined. But according to researcher and discoverer J. Calvin Coffey from University Hospital Limerick, the organ opens up a new era of science called mesenteric science. Coffey's research has been published in The Lancet.

The mesentery is actually a double fold of the peritoneum which lines the abdominal cavity and holds the intestine to the abdominal walls. It also appears that the organ may be responsible for pulling the digestive organs up. The discovery of the mesentery could possibly lead to the identification and treatment of new abdominal illnesses.

The existence of the mesentery actually dates far back and in fact, Leonardo da Vinci described the mesentery in 1508 and included it in his drawings and representations. However, it was overlooked until it was identified by Coffey in his research.

TechWorm described Coffey's research which began in 2012. The expert and his team conducted microscopic examinations of the organ and this was how they discovered that the mesentery was one continuous structure. Their study lasted for 4 years and has gained evidence that the mesentery is indeed a distinct organ and not part of the intestinal or abdominal cavity.

The widely popular medical textbook 'Gray's Anatomy' have already revised its content to include mesentery as the newly discovered organ found along the digestive system. Medical lectures regarding the different parts of the digestive system have been revised to include the new organ.

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