ArticleJournal of anatomy2021
The cecal appendix is correlated with greater maximal longevity in mammals.
Article in Journal of anatomy, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
What it found
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 21 citations in OpenAlex.
- Relationship between the appendix and ulcerative colitis: A new discovery.World journal of gastrointestinal endoscopy · 2026Review
- The Power of MUC2 in Mucinous Adenocarcinomas.Pathobiology : journal of immunopathology, molecular and cellular biology · 2026Review
- New Insights into a Conceptual Bionic Colonic Bioreactor: A Model, 'Probiotics in Human Colon', Showing How Probiotics Alleviate Constipation from a Bioprocess Engineering Perspective.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- The Exocrine Appendix. Darwin's vestige.ANZ journal of surgery · 2025Article
- Diagnostic and therapeutic value of appendoscope-assisted endoscopic retrograde appendicitis therapy.Endoscopy international open · 2025Article
- Endoscopic retrograde appendicitis therapy.Therapeutic advances in gastroenterology · 2024Review
- Correlation between the presence of a cecal appendix and reduced diarrhea severity in primates: new insights into the presumed function of the appendix.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- The appendix and ulcerative colitis - an unsolved connection.Nature reviews. Gastroenterology & hepatology · 2023Review
- Issues for patchy tissues: defining roles for gut-associated lymphoid tissue in neurodevelopment and disease.Journal of neural transmission (Vienna, Austria : 1996) · 2023Review
- Long-Duration Space Travel Support Must Consider Wider Influences to Conserve Microbiota Composition and Function.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- The cecal appendix is correlated with greater maximal longevity in mammals.Journal of anatomy · 2021Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The cecal appendix had been considered as a useless vestige since Darwin's work, but recent research questioned this idea demonstrating that the cecal appendix appeared among the mammals at least 80 million years ago and has made multiple and independent appearances without any obvious correlation with diet, social life, ecology, or size of the cecum. However, functions and probable selective advantage conferred by this anatomical structure still remain enigmatic. We found, through analyses of data on 258 mammalian species, that cecal appendix presence is correlated with increased maximal observed longevity. This is the first demonstration of a correlation between cecal appendix presence and life history. Interestingly, the classical evolutionary theory of aging that predicts an increased longevity when the extrinsic mortality is reduced has been questioned several times, but recent comparative studies asserted its validity in the taxa, which experience age-dependent and density-dependent mortality, as in mammals. Thus, the cecal appendix may contribute to the increase in longevity through a reduction of extrinsic mortality. A lower risk of fatal infectious diarrhea is one of the most plausible hypotheses that could explain it. However, several hypotheses coexist about the possible functions of the cecal appendix, and our results provide new insights about this much-disputed question. In addition, we show that the cecal appendix arose at least 16 times and was lost only once during the evolutionary history of the considered mammals, an asymmetry that supports the existence of a positive selective of this structure.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.