From:
"Sukie Crandall"
Date: 2007-10-24 02:42:10 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] appendix
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
Maybe a week or two ago someone asked about functions of the appendix while
wondering how NOT having one might impact ferret health.
Here is some new work on the appendix serving as a "safe house" for needed bacteria so
that after a bout of severe diarrheal disease there can be re-populating by needed
symbiotic bacteria. Animals which do not digest plant matter well and which have a rapid
transit time are less likely to have as high a functional demand for such symbiotic bacteria,
so -- in relation to the "safe house" study -- not having an appendix would have a lower
negative impact on ferrets than on a less carnivorous species.
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?
Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=17936308&ordinalpos=4&itool=Entr
ezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum>
in
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez
J Theor Biol. 2007 Sep 7; [Epub ahead of print]
Links
Biofilms in the large bowel suggest an apparent function of the human vermiform
appendix.
Randal Bollinger R, Barbas AS, Bush EL, Lin SS, Parker W.
Department of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, Box 2605, Durham, NC 27710,
USA; Department of Immunology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710,
USA.
The human vermiform ("worm-like") appendix is a 5-10cm long and 0.5-1cm wide pouch
that extends from the cecum of the large bowel. The architecture of the human appendix
is unique among mammals, and few mammals other than humans have an appendix at all.
The function of the human appendix has long been a matter of debate, with the structure
often considered to be a vestige of evolutionary development despite evidence to the
contrary based on comparative primate anatomy. The appendix is thought to have some
immune function based on its association with substantial lymphatic tissue, although the
specific nature of that putative function is unknown. Based (a) on a recently acquired
understanding of immune-mediated biofilm formation by commensal bacteria in the
mammalian gut, (b) on biofilm distribution in the large bowel, (c) the association of
lymphoid tissue with the appendix, (d) the potential for biofilms to protect and support
colonization by commensal bacteria, and (e) on the architecture of the human bowel, we
propose that the human appendix is well suited as a "safe house" for commensal bacteria,
providing support for bacterial growth and potentially facilitating re-inoculation of the
colon in the event that the contents of the intestinal tract are purged following exposure
to a pathogen.
PMID: 17936308 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Sukie (not a vet)
Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
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