What point does the appendix have?

Question

I mean aside from leaking poison into your body and infecting it with bacteria. What point does it serve?

Answer 1

It has absolutely no use.

From Wikipedia:

Medical literature shows that the appendix is not generally credited with significant function. The appendix is rich in infection-fighting lymphoid cells, suggesting that it might play a role in the immune system. Whether the appendix has a function or not, it can be removed without any ill effects or side effects.

The appendix is thought to have descended from an organ in our distant herbivorous ancestors called the cecum (or cæ***). The cecum is maintained in modern herbivores, where it houses the bacteria that digest cellulose, a chemically tough carbohydrate that these animals could not otherwise utilize. The human appendix contains no significant number of these bacteria, and cellulose is indigestible to humans. It seems likely that the appendix lost this function before human ancestors became recognizably human.

Answer 2

...just a quick addition to help you understand the creationist nutjobs that have responded to your question. Vestigial structures provide very strong evidence for evolution. For example, whales have pelvic bones and even vestigial femora (femurs). The *only* rational explanation for this is that they were inherited from their ancestors. So in some far distant ancestor, they were useful, but provide no real function in modern whales. As an indicator of obvious inherited change through time, they provide strong evidence for (proof if you like) evolution. So that's what gets these creationists all wound up about the appendix. Since it ****IS**** a vestigial cecum (as already pointed out above by the guy who should get "best answer"), it constitutes evidence of human evolution. So these religious nuts feel the need to make claims that it's not vestigial. Last point... Yes, the appendix plays a role in immune response in your GI tract, but absolutely NO MORE ROLE than every other square millimeter of the rest of your GI tissue. You can do without it just fine (no modifications to your diet, immune system, or anything else are required), and there's no quantifiable impact on immune response once it's been removed. Therefore, it is *****NOT***** a specialized immune system organ as they would have you believe. I'm sorry if this sounds like a rant, but those two responses have no business in a Science sub-section of Y!A.

Answer 3

The clue to the appendix’s function is its strategic position where the small bowel meets the colon. The colon is loaded with bacteria that are useful there, but which must be kept away from other areas. The appendix’s main role is likely to be in early childhood. The organ’s highly concentrated lymphoid follicles, which play an important role in the immune system, develop about two weeks after birth—at the same time that the colon begins to be colonized with the necessary bacteria.Through the cells in these lymphoid follicles, and the antibodies they make, the appendix is ‘involved in the control of which essential bacteria come to reside in the caecum and colon in neonatal life’. Like the very important thymus gland in our chest, it is likely that the appendix plays its major role in early childhood. It is also probably involved in helping the body recognize early in life that certain foodstuffs, bacterially derived substances, and even some of the body’s own gut enzymes, need to be tolerated and not seen as ‘foreign’ substances needing attack. I add a copy of an effort at humour from some years ago, written by Afred Sherwood Romer and Thomas S. Parsons - "Its major importance would appear to be financial support of the surgical profession." This, now, is obviously not the case.
This link contains details about the appendix.

http://wiki.cotch.net/index.php/
The_human_appendix_is_
functional,_not_vestigial

Hope this helps
Matador 89

Answer 4

None. It is a vestigial organ, as Ouroboro and Angela said.

Answer 5

It doesn't anymore...it used to do back in the evolutionary chain when we ate grass etc...

Just one of those left over parts, like a coccyx (human tail bone).

Answer 6

Sorry for this answer, 'Keep the Surgeons Employed?'

Answer 7

none