Since ancient times, civilizations have tried to understand human anatomy. The Egyptians, for example, manipulated human organs to embalm them, while the first medical manuscripts were found in an ancient Chinese tomb. Thousands of years later, we continue to investigate human organs and tissues. However, do you know exactly how many organs there are in the human body?
Organs are a set of tissues or cells that work with a common goal. In addition, each organ has a function necessary for human performance, although not all organs are necessary for life. In fact, the only organs essential for life are the brain, heart, liver, at least one kidney and one lung. The loss of these vital organs means death. However, the human body can survive without many other organs, as they can be replaced by medical devices or transplants.
According to Lisa MJ Lee, a professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, human organ counts can vary depending on how you count them. For example, in 2017 scientists came to label the mesentery (the fold that joins the intestines to the abdominal wall) as an organ. However, most scientists consider that there are 78 organs, among which are essential organs such as the tongue, stomach, urethra or pancreas. Similarly, teeth and bones are counted only once.
On the other hand, if you think at the microscopic level, when different tissues come together and work together, each unit is an organ. Thus, as Professor Lee argues, each tooth could be counted as an individual organ and each nail considered an organ. In the same way, each bone would be considered to be an organ and the 206 bones together would make up a system of organs. Therefore, to the initial 78 organs, 205 more should be added, giving a total of 284 organs in the human body. If each tooth is also counted individually, the list amounts to 315 organs.
However, there are many organs that are counted only once even though they are distributed throughout the body. For example, tendons and ligaments could dramatically increase the total number of organs if we count it individually. Therefore, so that the list is not endless, they are usually counted individually. Thus, nerves are counted only once, although there are billions throughout the body.
