New Human 'Organ' Was Hiding in Plain Sight

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The interstitium, scientists found, is under our skin and between our organs. Understanding it may eventually help treat disease.

Lurking just under your skin might be a new organ only now identified for the first time, say a team of scientists.

In a new study published in the journal Scientific Reports, researchers from New York University's School of Medicine say they have found a new organ they're calling the "interstitium."

It's nearly everywhere—just below the skin's surface, surrounding arteries and veins, casing the fibrous tissue between muscles, and lining our digestive tracts, lungs, and urinary systems.

It looks like a mesh. The interstitium is a layer of fluid-filled compartments strung together in a web of collagen and a flexible protein called elastin. Previously, scientists thought the layer was simply dense connective tissue.

The organ has seemingly been hidden in plain sight, and scientists say they missed it because of the way tissue is studied. Before being placed under a microscope, samples are thinly sliced and treated with chemicals that allow researchers to identify key components more easily. While the process is helpful for more easily spotting details, it drains fluid from the sample.

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Scientists discover ‘new organ’ hiding in plain sight

Scientists say they’ve discovered a new organ — possibly the human body’s largest — and it was hiding in plain sight, according to a new study.

The so-called interstitium is an interconnected system of tiny fluid-filled cavities throughout the entire body that acts as a “highway” for our internal water supply, study co-author Dr. Neil Theise told LiveScience.com.

The findings were published Tuesday in the journal Scientific Reports.

The human body is 60 percent water, and while two-thirds of that liquid remains inside cells, the remaining water — called interstitial fluid — is free to move throughout cavities inside the body.

Scientists had not previously shown that there was a unified system for moving that water, because they “didn’t know what they were looking at,” Theise told LiveScience.com.

The interstitium exists within connective tissue, beneath the skin and surrounding several other organs and could be considered the body’s largest organ, researchers said.

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