There had been a lot of discussion about what the appendix might do as a function, whether it served a function, prior to [Charles] Darwin's time. The [fact] that we can live without it does provide some support for the idea that it's vestigial and it doesn't really do anything. And so Darwin's interpretation of it as a vestige was reasonable at the time, given the information that he had.
But now with modern technology, we can see things like the microanatomy and the biofilms in the appendix, and we have a better understanding of what it is and what it's doing.
It turns out that the appendix appears to have two related functions. The first function is supporting the immune system. The appendix has a high concentration of immune tissue, so it's acting to help the immune system fight any bad things in the gut.
The second function that it serves is what we refer to as the safe house. So this was a hypothesis that was put forward by a team from Duke University in 2007. And they argued that the appendix may serve as a safe reservoir for the beneficial gut bacteria that we have.
During times of gastrointestinal distress — you know, a diarrhea episode where all of your good gut bacteria is getting kind of flushed out of the system — the appendix is kind of this blind tube with a very narrow diameter and narrow lumen, so the good bacteria doesn't get flushed out of the appendix. The idea is it's safe during this time of gastrointestinal distress and it can then exit the appendix and recolonize this good bacteria throughout the rest of the gut.
So the appendix is kind of helping us in two ways, both within the gut: It's helping to fight off invading pathogens, but also to repopulate the gut with this beneficial bacteria after gastrointestinal issues....<<<Read More>>>...
