Everything about Caecum totally explained
The
cecum or
caecum (from the
Latin meaning
blind) is a pouch connected to the
ascending colon of the
large intestine and the
ileum. It is separated from the ileum by the
ileocecal valve (ICV) or Bauhin's valve, and is considered to be the beginning of the large intestine. It is also separated from the
colon by the
cecocolic junction.
Variation across species
The cecum is present in
mammals, and two ceca are present in most
birds (and some
reptiles).
Most
herbivores have a relatively large cecum, hosting a large number of
bacteria, which aid in the
enzymatic breakdown of plant materials such as
cellulose.
Exclusive
carnivores, whose diets contain little or no plant material, have a reduced cecum; often partially or wholly replaced by the
vermiform appendix.
Etymology
The term cecum comes from the Latin, meaning blind gut or
cul de sac.
In
dissections by the
Greek philosophers, the connection between the
ileum of the
small intestines and the cecum wasn't fully understood. Most of the studies of the
digestive tract were done on animals and the results were compared to human
structures.
The junction between the small intestines and the colon, called the ileocecal valve, is so small in some animals that it wasn't considered to be a connection between the small and large intestines. During a dissection, the colon could be traced from the
rectum, to the
sigmoid colon, through the
descending,
transverse, and
ascending sections. The colon seemed to dead-end into the cecum, or cul-de-sac.
However, the connection between the end of the small intestines, ileum, and the start of the colon, cecum are now clearly understood, but the name hasn't changed.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Caecum'.
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