Scientists have discovered a new pair of organs inside the skull!

According to a study recently published in the journal Radiotherapy and Oncology—a development that would mark the first discovery of a new human organ in nearly three centuries, a team of doctors in Netherlands may have discovered a new pair of salivary glands located in humans' heads. It’s an impossibly small set of glands, dubbed “tubarial glands”, that sit in the skull where the nose and throat meet.

What are the Salivary Glands?

Humans have three major types of salivary glands: one set located near the ears (The Parotid glands), another set located under the jaw (The Submandibular Glands) and a third set located below the tongue (The Sublingual Gland).Salivary glands perform many tasks, including lubricating our mouths, carrying food chemicals to the microscopic cells responsible for sensing them, fighting germs, speeding up wound closures, and making it easier for us to spit and swallow.According to Matthijs Valstar, a surgeon and researcher at the Netherlands Cancer Institute and an author of the new study, our salivary glands produce a quart of spit each day, which play a role in "a lot of things that make you enjoy life."But our salivary glands also are very sensitive, and a single misguided zap could permanently hurt the delicate tissue. Like the Mumps virus which is transmitted through respiratory secretions travels to the Parotid gland and causes its swelling.

The Tubarial Glands:

Researchers were using special technology called PSMA PET/CT, which is designed to look for tumorous growths. They took 100 individuals being treated for prostate cancer, as well as two dissected cadavers as the sample space when they found the new organs. But the patient sample included just one woman ,When the researchers viewed the images, they noticed two unfamiliar structures tucked away under the base of the human skull, where the nasal cavity meets the throat. The researchers described the structures as a pair of flat, spindly glands that were a few inches long and draped inconspicuously over the tubes connecting the ears to the throat.After noticing the unfamiliar glands on the scans, the researchers dissected tissue from two cadavers. The researchers not only found the glands, but they discovered that the glands were similar to the salivary glands below the tongue. The newly found glands were connected to large draining ducts, which suggested that they were funneling fluid from one place in the body to another, the researchers said.

Why do the new organs matter?

The study authors assume the function of the tubarial glads is to moisten and lubricate the nasopharynx (connected to the soft palate) and oropharynx (connected to the tongue and throat).

The discovery may help researchers understand why people who undergo radiation therapy for head and neck cancers often report having chronic dry mouth (Xerostomia) and issues swallowing , With this discovery, “it should technically be possible to avoid delivering radiation to this newly discovered location of the salivary gland system in the same way we try to spare known glands,” author Wouter Vogel, a radiation oncologist at The Netherlands Cancer Institute, said in a statement. “If we can do this, patients may experience less side effects which will benefit their overall quality of life after treatment.”

Is it really a new discovery?

1. The study needs to be replicated with a different series of patients to confirm the findings. There is some debate around whether these may be a previously undiscovered part of the salivary gland organ system, rather than an entirely new organ.

2. Since 99 of the 100 subjects in the study were male, and since a specific set of tests, rather than a standardized testing method was used, further research will need to examine more women and healthier patients to get better data, said, Dr. Valerie Fitzhugh, the interim chair of pathology at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School.

3. It’s not very clear why these glands for so long but a probable reason is that it’s location is not very accessible and a very sensitive imaging is required for detecting it.

Another aspect:

The evolutionary biologist Theodosius Dobzhansky, said rightly that “Nothing in Biology Makes Sense Except in the Light of Evolution’’There is also a probability that these newly discovered organs are collection of cells and hence tissues which evolved over a period of time.Only time will tell if it’s really a new discovery or the result of evolution or something completely different .