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Ileum, caecum and colon of rabbit, showing Appendix vermiformis on fully functional caecum The human vermiform appendix on the vestigial caecum. The appendix was once believed to be a vestige of a redundant organ that in ancestral species had digestive functions, much as it still does in extant species in which intestinal flora hydrolyze cellulose and similar indigestible plant materials. [10]
The cecum is a pouch-like structure of the large intestine, located at the junction of the small and the large intestines. The term "vermiform" comes from Latin and means "worm-shaped". The appendix was once considered a vestigial organ, but this view has changed since the early 2000s.
In humans, the vermiform appendix is sometimes called a vestigial structure as it has lost much of its ancestral digestive function.. Vestigiality is the retention, during the process of evolution, of genetically determined structures or attributes that have lost some or all of the ancestral function in a given species. [1]
The appendix, long misunderstood as a vestigial organ, is now recognized as a key MALT structure, playing an essential role in B-lymphocyte-mediated immune responses, hosting extrathymically derived T-lymphocytes, regulating pathogens through its lymphatic vessels, and potentially producing early defenses against diseases. [1]
The human body consists of biological systems, that consist of organs, that consist of tissues, that consist of cells and connective tissue. The history of anatomy has been characterized, over a long period of time, by a continually developing understanding of the functions of organs and structures in the body.
If a structure was once called vestigial, but is now known to be functional, then calling it "Functioning Vestigial Structures" violates the definition of vestigial, because by definition, it is not vestigial. It was previously called vestigial, but that was a mistake. It is not correct to call the vermiform appendix vestigial.
When it comes to flying under the radar, the appendix is in the running for the top spot. In a 2007 study researchers from Duke University said it helps store good microbes or bacteria that help ...
Although structures called vestigial often appear functionless, a vestigial structure may retain lesser functions or develop minor new ones." I think the connection made between appendix and vestigial organs is therefore wrong, because vestigial organs can have function and still remain vestigial.