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The appendix was once considered a vestigial organ, but this view has changed since the early 2000s. [1] [2] Research suggests that the appendix may serve an important purpose as a reservoir for beneficial gut bacteria.
Appendicitis is inflammation of the appendix, a small, potentially vestigial organ that branches off the large intestine. Inflammation is usually a result of some sort of obstruction in the lumen of the appendix, which ultimately leads to infection.
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]
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]
It is a small organ attached to the large intestine in the lower right side of the abdomen. Anatomists and medical professionals have traditionally considered the appendix a vestigial organ. Later research suggests that it may have an immunological function. [13] On the dorsal aspect of the abdominal cavity, there are two bean-shaped organs.
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]
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A Meckel's diverticulum, a true congenital diverticulum, is a slight bulge in the small intestine present at birth and a vestigial remnant of the vitelline duct.It is the most common malformation of the gastrointestinal tract and is present in approximately 2% of the population, [1] with males more frequently experiencing symptoms.