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Organ (anatomy)
Organs are groups of tissues with similar functions. Plant and animal
Organ
life relies on many organs that coexist in organ systems.[1]

Organs are composed of main tissue, parenchyma, and sporadic tissues,

stroma. The main tissue is unique for the specific organ, such as the
myocardium, the main tissue of the heart, while sporadic tissues
include the nerves, blood vessels, and connective tissues. The main
tissues that make up an organ tend to have common embryologic
origins, such as arising from the same germ layer. Functionally related
organs often cooperate to form whole organ systems. Organs exist in
most multicellular organisms. In single-celled organisms such as
bacteria, the functional analogue of an organ is known as an organelle.
In plants, there are three main organs.[2] A hollow organ is an internal
organ that forms a hollow tube, or pouch such as the stomach, intestine,
Many of the internal organs of the
or bladder.
human body
Details
In the study of anatomy, the term viscus refers to an internal organ.
System Organ systems
Viscera is the plural form.[3][4] Seventy-nine organs have been
identified in the human body.[5] Identifiers
Latin organi
Greek Οργανο
Contents FMA 67498 (https://bioportal.bioont
ology.org/ontologies/FMA/?p=
Structure
Tissue classes&conceptid=http%3A%
Organ systems 2F%2Fpurl.org%2Fsig%2Fon
t%2Ffma%2Ffma67498)
Function
Animals Anatomical terminology
Plants
Society and culture
History
Antiquity
Modern times
Organ Procedures
Origin and evolution
See also
References
External links

Structure

Tissue

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In biology, tissue is a cellular organizational level between cells and complete organs. A tissue is an ensemble of similar
cells and their extracellular matrix from the same origin that together carry out a specific function. Organs are then
formed by the functional grouping together of multiple tissues.

The study of human and animal tissues is known as histology or, in connection with disease, histopathology. For
plants, the discipline is called plant morphology. Classical tools for studying tissues include the paraffin block (agarose
gel is often used with plants[6][7]) in which tissue is embedded and then sectioned, the histological stain, and the
optical microscope. In the last couple of decades, developments in electron microscopy, immunofluorescence, and the
use of frozen tissue sections have enhanced the detail that can be observed in tissues. With these tools, the classical
appearances of tissues can be examined in health and disease, enabling considerable refinement of medical diagnosis
and prognosis.

Organ systems
Two or more organs working together in the execution of a specific body function form an organ system, also called a
biological system or body system. The functions of organ systems often share significant overlap. For instance, the
nervous and endocrine system both operate via a shared organ, the hypothalamus. For this reason, the two systems are
combined and studied as the neuroendocrine system. The same is true for the musculoskeletal system because of the
relationship between the muscular and skeletal systems.

Common organ system designations in plants includes the differentiation of shoot and root. All parts of the plant above
ground (in non-epiphytes), including the functionally distinct leaf and flower organs, may be classified together as the
shoot organ system.[8]

Function

Animals
Non-placozoan animals such as humans have a variety of organ systems.
These specific systems are also widely studied in human anatomy.

Cardiovascular system: pumping and channeling blood to and from the

body and lungs with heart, blood and blood vessels.
Digestive system: digestion and processing food with salivary glands,
esophagus, stomach, liver, gallbladder, pancreas, intestines, colon,
rectum and anus.
Endocrine system: communication within the body using hormones
made by endocrine glands such as the hypothalamus, pituitary gland,
pineal body or pineal gland, thyroid, parathyroids and adrenals, i.e., The liver and gallbladder of a sheep
adrenal glands.
Excretory system: kidneys, ureters, bladder and urethra involved in
fluid balance, electrolyte balance and excretion of urine.
Lymphatic system: structures involved in the transfer of lymph between tissues and the blood stream, the lymph
and the nodes and vessels that transport it including the Immune system: defending against disease-causing
agents with leukocytes, tonsils, adenoids, thymus and spleen.
Integumentary system: skin, hair and nails of mammals. Also scales of fish, reptiles, and birds, and feathers of
birds.
Muscular system: movement with muscles.
Nervous system: collecting, transferring and processing information with brain, spinal cord and nerves.
Reproductive system: the sex organs, such as ovaries, fallopian tubes, uterus, vulva, vagina, testes, vas deferens,
seminal vesicles, prostate and penis.
Respiratory system: the organs used for breathing, the pharynx, larynx, trachea, bronchi, lungs and diaphragm.
Skeletal system: structural support and protection with bones, cartilage, ligaments and tendons.

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Plants
The study of plant organs is referred to as plant morphology, rather than
anatomy – as in animal systems. Organs of plants can be divided into
vegetative and reproductive. Vegetative plant organs include roots, stems,
and leaves. The reproductive organs are variable. In flowering plants, they
are represented by the flower, seed and fruit. In conifers, the organ that
bears the reproductive structures is called a cone. In other divisions (phyla)
of plants, the reproductive organs are called strobili, in Lycopodiophyta, or
simply gametophores in mosses.

The flower is the angiosperm's

The vegetative organs are essential for maintaining the life of a plant. While
reproductive organ. This Hibiscus
there can be 11 organ systems in animals, there are far fewer in plants,
flower is hermaphroditic, and it
where some perform the vital functions, such as photosynthesis, while the contains stamen and pistils.
reproductive organs are essential in reproduction. However, if there is
asexual vegetative reproduction, the vegetative organs are those that create
the new generation of plants (see clonal colony).

Society and culture

Many societies have a system for organ donation, in which a living or
deceased donor's organ is transplanted into a person with a failing organ.
The transplantation of larger solid organs often requires
immunosuppression to prevent organ rejection or graft-versus-host
disease.

There is considerable interest throughout the world in creating laboratory-

grown or artificial organs.

Organ-on-a-chip is being developed in various research centers, including

the Wyss Institute at Harvard Medical School in Boston.

History
The English word "organ" dates back to the twelfth century, in reference to
any musical instrument. By the late 14th century, the musical term's Strobilus of Equisetum telmateia
meaning had narrowed to refer specifically to the keyboard-based
instrument. At the same time, a second meaning arose, in reference to a
"body part adapted to a certain function".[9]

Plant organs are made from tissue composed of different types of tissue. When three or more organs are present, it is
called an organ system.[10]

The adjective visceral, also splanchnic, is used for anything pertaining to the internal organs. Historically, viscera of
animals were examined by Roman pagan priests like the haruspices or the augurs in order to divine the future by their
shape, dimensions or other factors. This practice remains an important ritual in some remote, tribal societies.

The term "visceral" is contrasted with the term "parietal", meaning "of or relating to the wall of a body part, organ or
cavity"[11] The two terms are often used in describing a membrane or piece of connective tissue, referring to the
opposing sides.

Antiquity
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Aristotle used the word frequently in his philosophy, both to describe the
organs of plants or animals (e.g. the roots of a tree, the heart or liver of an
animal), and to describe more abstract "parts" of an interconnected whole
(e.g. his logical works, taken as a whole, are referred to as the
"organon").[12]

Some alchemists (e.g. Paracelsus) adopted the Hermetic Qabalah

assignment between the seven vital organs and the seven classical planets
as follows:[13]

Planet Organ
Sun Heart
Moon Brain
Mercury Lungs
Venus Kidneys
Mars Gall bladder
Jupiter Liver Human viscera

Saturn Spleen

Modern times
The variations in natural language definitions of what constitutes an organ, their degree of precision, and the
variations in how they map to ontologies and taxonomies in information science (for example, to count how many
organs exist in a typical human body) are topics explored by writer Carl Engelking of Discover magazine in 2017 as he
analyzed the science journalism coverage of the evolving scientific understanding of the mesentery.[14] He explored a
challenge now faced by anatomists: as human understanding of ontology generally (that is, how things are defined, and
how the relationship of one thing to another is defined) meets applied ontology and ontology engineering, unification
of varying views is in higher demand.[14] However, such unification always faces epistemologic frontiers, as humans
can only declare computer ontologies with certainty and finality to the extent that their own cognitive taxonomy (that
is, science's understanding of the universe) is certain and final. For example, the fact that the tissues of the mesentery
are continuous was something that was simply not known for sure until it was demonstrated with microscopy.[15]
Because humans cannot predict all future scientific discoveries, they cannot build a unified ontology that is totally
certain and will never again change. However, one of the points made by an anatomist interviewed by Engelking is
that, finality aside, much more could be done even now to represent existing human knowledge more clearly for
computing purposes.

Organ Procedures
Beginning in the 20th century[16] transplants began to occur as scientists knew more about the anatomy of organs.
These came later in time as procedures were often dangerous and difficult.[17] Both the source and method of obtaining
the organ to transplant are major ethical issues to consider, and because organs as resources for transplant are always
more limited than demand for them, various notions of justice, including distributive justice, are developed in the
ethical analysis. This situation continues as long as transplantation relies upon organ donors rather than technological
innovation, testing, and industrial manufacturing.

Origin and evolution

The organ level of organisation in animals can be first detected in flatworms and the more derived phyla. The less-
advanced taxa (like Placozoa, Sponges and Radiata) do not show consolidation of their tissues into organs.
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More complex animals are composed of different organs, which have been
evolving over time. For example, the liver evolved in the stem vertebrates
more than 500 million years ago, while the gut and brain are even more
ancient, arising in the ancestor of vertebrates, insects, and worms more
than 600 million years ago.

Relationship of major animal
lineages with indication of how long
ago these animals shared a
common ancestor. On the left,
important organs are shown, which
allows us to determine how long ago
these may have evolved.
Given the ancient origin of most vertebrate organs, researchers have looked
for model systems, where organs have evolved more recently, and ideally
have evolved multiple times independently. An outstanding model for this
kind of research is the placenta, which has evolved more than 100 times
independently in vertebrates, has evolved relatively recently in some
lineages, and exists in intermediate forms in extant taxa.[18] Studies on the
evolution of the placenta have identified a variety of genetic and
physiological processes that contribute to the origin and evolution of
organs, these include the re-purposing of existing animal tissues, the
acquisition of new functional properties by these tissues, and novel
interactions of distinct tissue types.[18]

See also
Organoid

References
1. Widmaier EP; Raff H; Strang KT (2014). Vander's Human Physiology (12th ed.). ISBN 978-0-07-128366-3.
2. "Botany/Plant structure - Wikibooks, open books for an open world" (https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Botany/Plant_str
ucture). en.wikibooks.org.
3. "Viscus - Definition" (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Viscus). Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary.
Retrieved 14 December 2009.
4. "Viscera" (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/mesh?term=viscera). MeSH. Retrieved 14 December 2009.
5. "New organ named in digestive system" (https://www.bbc.com/news/health-38506708). BBC News. 2017.
Retrieved 2018-02-05.
6. Lišková, Desana; Kollárová, Karin; Martinka, Michal; Sterckeman, Thibault; Lux, Alexander; Zelko, Ivan (2012-07-
01). "An easy method for cutting and fluorescent staining of thin roots" (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/
PMC3394640). Annals of Botany. 110 (2): 475–478. doi:10.1093/aob/mcs046 (https://doi.org/10.1093%2Faob%2F
mcs046). ISSN 0305-7364 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0305-7364). PMC 3394640 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.go
v/pmc/articles/PMC3394640). PMID 22419758 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22419758).
7. "Rapid Preparation of Transverse Sections of Plant Roots | Schiefelbein Lab" (https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/schiefelb
ein-lab/rapid-preparation-of-transverse-sections-of-plant-roots/). Retrieved 2019-03-19.
8. "The Plant Body | Boundless Biology" (https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-biology/chapter/the-plant-bod
y/). courses.lumenlearning.com. Retrieved 2019-03-19.
9. "organ (n.)" (https://www.etymonline.com/word/organism#etymonline_v_7139). Online Etymology Dictionary.
Retrieved 22 March 2019.
10. "Organ System - Definition and Examples | Biology Dictionary" (https://biologydictionary.net/organ-system/).
Biology Dictionary. 2016-10-31. Retrieved 2018-02-10.
11. "Parietal – Learning brain structure, function and variability from neuroimaging data" (https://team.inria.fr/parietal/).
team.inria.fr. Retrieved 2018-02-10.
12. Lennox, James (31 Jan 2017). "Aristotle's Biology" (https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-biology/). Plato.
Stanford University. Retrieved 23 March 2019. "Section 2: Aristotle's Philosophy of Science"

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13. Philip Ball, The Devil's Doctor: Paracelsus and the World of Renaissance Magic and Science, ISBN 978-0-09-
945787-9
14. Engelking, Carl (2017-01-06), "We got the mesentery news all wrong" (http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/20
17/01/06/got-mesentery-news-wrong/), The Crux (a group blog by Discover writers).
15. Coffey, J Calvin; O'Leary, D Peter (2016). "The mesentery: structure, function, and role in disease". The Lancet
Gastroenterology & Hepatology. 1 (3): 238–247. doi:10.1016/S2468-1253(16)30026-7 (https://doi.org/10.1016%2
FS2468-1253%2816%2930026-7). PMID 28404096 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28404096).
16. "Timeline of Historical Events and Significant Milestones" (https://www.organdonor.gov/about/facts-terms/history.ht
ml). Organ Donor Government Web. Retrieved 19 March 2019.
17. "transplant | Definition, Types, & Rejection" (https://www.britannica.com/science/transplant-surgery). Encyclopedia
Britannica.
18. Griffith, Oliver W.; Wagner, G?nter P. (23 March 2017). "The placenta as a model for understanding the origin and
evolution of vertebrate organs". Nature Ecology & Evolution. 1 (4): 0072. doi:10.1038/s41559-017-0072 (https://do
i.org/10.1038%2Fs41559-017-0072). PMID 28812655 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28812655).

External links
Media related to Organs (anatomy) at Wikimedia Commons

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