Exploring Human Body Abnormalities in Cadaver Dissections

Experiencing cadaver lab dissections reveals health risks associated with visceral fat, diverticulosis, and spinal degeneration.

### Fascinating Discoveries in Cadaver Dissections: Visceral Fat, Hernias, Diverticulosis, and Spinal Degeneration
* 💀 In a cadaver lab dissection, an unusually high amount of **visceral fat** was found around the heart and intestines, highlighting the **health risks** associated with excess visceral fat.
* The presence of an inguinal hernia on one side of the cadaver demonstrated the **common male vulnerability to this type of hernia** due to the **passage of the testes through the inguinal canal during development**.
* The discovery of diverticulosis in the sigmoid colon, with multiple diverticula visible, illustrated a common but often asymptomatic condition that can lead to **diverticulitis if the pouches become inflamed**.
* Spinal degeneration in the thoracic region, likely caused by osteoporosis, was identified by the **wedging of vertebral bodies**, emphasizing the importance of **bone health** in preventing such conditions.
* 🔬 These findings underscore the **value of hands-on anatomical study** in understanding human anatomy and pathology beyond what textbooks or digital resources can provide.
* 💊 The video also included a sponsored segment promoting a comprehensive daily nutrition supplement, AG1, which **supports gut health and overall well-being**.
* 💡 The presenter emphasized the importance of maintaining a healthy weight, proper diet, exercise, stress reduction, and sleep to **minimize visceral fat and reduce the risk of associated health conditions**.
* 📚 While some traditional beliefs about conditions like diverticulitis have been challenged by new research, there is still much to learn about the **progression and treatment** of these common anatomical abnormalities.

owning and operating a cadaver lab is quite an amazing and very interesting experience. For one, you get to participate in dissection and learn about the human body in a way that cannot be replicated by books, images, or apps. But sometimes, like on this particular body, you might find something that surprises you or wasn't listed on the death certificate. So today, we're doing another video about crazy or interesting things that I found in dead bodies while doing dissections. It's going to be an exploratory one, so let's do this. If you look closely at the dissection that we've done so far on this body, especially over here, you might have some hints as to what you might find when I show you what's inside the body cavities. You can see there's the six-pack muscle here, also known as the rectus abdominis, but you can also see how much subcutaneous fat we had to remove just to get down to this muscle. So as we go into the body cavity, I'm going to reflect this out of the

way, and you can see an incredible amount of visceral fat. Subcutaneous fat is the fat that's directly under the skin, but visceral means pertaining to internal organs, so this is the fat that surrounds the organs. There is, as you can see, a substantial amount of visceral fat surrounding the intestine. Let me just reflect that out of the way so you can really take that in. There, but also look how much visceral fat is around the heart. This is not a healthy amount of visceral fat. Now, if this is your first time seeing visceral fat in a real human body, you might be like, okay, I have nothing to compare this to, so I guess I'll take your word for it that this is a lot of visceral fat. Well, we actually do have something to compare this to. This body has a much more normal amount of visceral fat. You can see how much thinner it is in the abdominal cavity as I reflect the momentum out of the way again, just seeing how much thinner and how much less of it is surrounding the

intestine, and you can actually see a distinct pericardial sac surrounding the heart, as opposed to over here where we can't see that distinct pericardial sac. Can't even really make out the heart very well because there's so much visceral fat in this body compared to again the body over here. So why is this such a big deal? Well, visceral fat is associated with an increased risk of certain conditions such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and even certain cancers. Now keep in mind there are multiple factors that result in these conditions but the strong association that has been shown with visceral fat has definitely made high amounts of visceral fat a cause for concern. Visceral fat is metabolically active, and some of the proposed links to these diseases could be through its release of certain chemicals such as cytokines that could induce inflammation, as well as other molecules that may play a role in inducing insulin resistance that we see in like type 2 diabetes. So how can you

minimize the amount of visceral fat that you have. Well, kind of that same old answer that maybe you're a little sick of hearing, but it's true. Maintaining a healthy weight through proper diet, exercise, stress reduction, and even getting adequate amounts of sleep has been associated with lower levels of visceral fat. Next, we are moving on to the groin, and this is a real human testicle that we've removed from the right scrotum. This tube-like structure here is called the spermatic cord, and you can see part of the left spermatic cord that I'm hooking with my finger here. Just you can only see part of it because we haven't removed the left testicle from the scrotum on this side. Now, there's actually nothing wrong with this testicle, and it wasn't a surprise to find this structure in a male body, but it does increase the likelihood of finding the abnormality that we did find in this body. You see, when we're developing inside mom, the testes and the ovaries start developing higher up in

the abdominal cavity by the kidneys, but as you continue to develop, they descend down just inside these two bony landmarks here called the anterior superior iliac spines. So they're just medial to these bony landmarks. The ovaries are like, We'll just stay here, but apparently the testes are adventure seekers, and they want to see the outside world. So they actually push through the abdominal wall by running through this passageway called the inguinal canal. Now, if you've ever seen someone with very defined lower abs, that line is created by the inguinal ligament, and the inguinal canal is just right above this ligament. But as the testes move through the canal, they pull arteries and veins with them because, you know, they need nutrients or provisions for their journey to the outside world, and they also drag muscle fibers with them so they can move and react to things like temperature changes. But what this does is that it creates a potential weak spot in males when it comes to developing

hernias. Specifically, inguinal hernias. And here on this particular cadaver on the left side, you can see this circular bulge that I'm pinching with my fingers here, and this is an inguinal hernia. Now, a hernia is when a piece of the intestine or some of the surrounding tissues push through the abdominal wall. And you can get hernias in all different places throughout the abdomen. But again, inguinal hernias are much more common in males due to the passage of the testes during development. Mild inguinal hernias that are asymptomatic or even have just mild symptoms, the patient could opt to just watch and wait. But with more moderate to severe hernias, these are typically surgically repaired. On the next body, we are going to look at some abnormalities in the gut. And so we might as well take a second to talk about something else you can put in your gut by saying thank you to the sponsor of today's video, AG1. And as someone who prioritizes high performance in every

aspect of my life. It's important to have a supplement that supports whole body health, and that's where ag1 comes in. Ag1 is a daily foundational nutrition supplement that's backed by research studies. It's packed with 75 ingredients that support focus and energy, nutrient replenishment, gut health, immune health, and more. You could say that I'm quite the minimalist when it comes to my supplements. I take creatine, protein after a workout, and ag1 every morning. And this is one of the things that I love most about ag1 - is that it has a comprehensive formula, and instead of needing to add any more supplements, I get everything I need in one easy scoop. The prebiotics, probiotics, and digestive enzymes in ag1 help support gut health. And speaking of gut health, in a research study, ag1 doubled the levels of healthy gut bacteria. These healthy bacteria help break down food, alleviate bloating, promote digestive regularity, and aid in digestive comfort. And so it's definitely nice to see that ag1 is constantly

putting their formula to the test to ensure continuous improvement. So if you're interested, go to drinka1.com/humananatomy or scan the QR code to get a one-year supply of vitamin D3 plus K2 and five ag1 travel packets with your first purchase. That link and the info will also be in the description below. Next, we're moving to the colon, specifically the sigmoid colon. And just because we're zoomed in here, let me orient you to what we're looking at. On me, we're looking at the left lower abdomen. So zoomed into this area, and you have to look closely at this sigmoid colon to figure out the abnormality. Now, it's not these little fatty appendages because all of us have those. It's actually these little pouchy doodads right here between my two fingers there, and even another one right there, another one there, and I think there was a pretty good one up here too if I can find it. Yep, right there between my two fingers there. Now, pouchy doodad is clearly a technical term.

for the real name diverticula so these pouches are called diverticula or diverticulum for one or singular now now if you have diverticula you are said to have a condition called diverticulosis and many people don't know that they have diverticulosis because it can be completely asymptomatic in many cases but there are situations where it can become a problem and I'll get to that in just a second but let me explain how this kind of comes to be now all of us have a pretty good idea that the intestine is a hollow tube where food would pass through or in the case of the colon poop or I guess we could say a stool but that Hollow tube if we were to cut through there and look at it we would obviously see the hollow space and we call that hollow space the Lumen but if we examine the wall the wall of the gut tube or the digestive tract is made up of three layers the inside layer is called the tunic mucosa

and that tunic mucosa is made of epithelial tissue, which can absorb and also secrete something like mucus. Hence the name tuna mucosa. But the middle layer is called the tuna muscularis, and that's the smooth muscle that involuntarily contracts to help propel the food along or in the case of the colon the stool. Now what happens in diverticulosis is that tunic mucosa, that inside layer, will push through a weak spot in the tunic muscularis or through that smooth muscle and create that little outpouching or that diverticulum. Or if there's multiple diverticula. Now I did mention that it can be asymptomatic but what happens when it becomes a problem. Well, in some people these little pouches or again the diverticula can become inflamed and then they will refer to it as diverticulitis. Now what's interesting is that our knowledge about how someone went from diverticulosis with no inflammation to diverticulitis and

having these inflamed pouches has changed. It used to be thought that things like seeds, undigested seeds, could get stuck in these pouches and create an inflammatory process, as well as like poop could get stuck in there and it could Harden, and these things could fester in there and create this inflammatory process. And I'm getting a little bit too into this, but the data now shows that that's not necessarily the case, and we don't totally know why someone goes from just having pouches that aren't inflamed to pouches that are inflamed. And the treatment varies based on severity. You can have some patients with mild diverticulitis where they can just do watchful waiting, and their body can get over it. Some people can get infections and abscesses associated with their diverticulitis, and in that case, they'd be treated with antibiotics, all the way up to surgical procedures where they've actually removed segments of the colon to help people who have more severe cases of diverticulitis. Next.

we're going to move to a spine that's got some problems, and so here on this cadaver section, you can see I'm tracing the spine from the lumbar region to the thoracic region, all the way up to the cervical region, or what we refer to as the neck. And just to orient you, we've got a mid-sagittal cut here. So if I show you on Jeffrey, we'd be cutting straight down the midline, and we're looking into the right side of the spine here. And these lumbar vertebral bodies that you can see here with some discs in between. So we have a body, disc, body, disc. The discs are made of fibrocartilage, and then obviously the vertebral bodies are made of bone. The bodies are pretty good, and what I mean by good is that they maintain their squared-off shape. And if you look at Jeffrey, you can see those vertebral bodies are boxy. They've got that nice square shape, even if you look at a side view, we'd have that squared.

off or that boxy shape, and that's going to be different as we move up the spine. So pretty good on the lumbar region as we go from body, body, body, body. And as we continue to go up, look what happens in the thoracic region. We're okay here, and then we're like, What is going on with this thoracic vertebral body as well as this one and that one? And so we have this major spinal degeneration right through the midthoracic region, and these vertebral bodies again are not maintaining their square shape in the front. They're wedging out almost like kind of a door stopper. And we know that this patient, or this person, I should say, when they were alive, actually had osteoporosis, which likely contributed to the spinal degeneration where it literally thinned out the bones. The bones degenerated as well as the intervertebral discs. And again, you can see once we pass through that area of degeneration, things start to get a little bit more back to normal with

those box-shaped vertebral bodies. So hopefully that gave you some extra motivation to protect your spine and do your best to minimize your risks of developing things like osteoporosis, as well as give you some cool information about visceral fat, diverticulosis, and even hernias. We have some other longer videos on some of those specific conditions that I'll link here, and thank you for supporting the channel. Leave some comments below if you don't mind, and we'll see you in the next video.

Insane Things I've Found In Dead Bodies

The Institute of Human Anatomy is a private human cadaver laboratory that educates health, fitness, and medical professionals on human anatomy and physiology using human cadavers.

Our mission is to teach as many people on the planet as possible about the anatomical wonder of the one thing we all carry 24/7 for our entire lives: our amazing bodies!


Institute of Human Anatomy

Discovering Visceral Fat in a Cadaver Lab

Finding high levels of visceral fat in a body during dissection can be surprising and concerning.

The comparison with a body containing a normal amount of visceral fat allows for a clear visual of the difference and its potential health implications.

High levels of visceral fat have been strongly associated with an increased risk of various conditions, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and certain cancers, making it a significant cause for concern.

Ways to Reduce Visceral Fat and Understand the Male Groin Anatomy

Maintaining a healthy weight through proper diet, exercise, and stress reduction is linked to lower levels of visceral fat.

The descent of the testes into the scrotum through the inguinal canal creates a potential weak spot in males, leading to a higher risk of inguinal hernias.

Inguinal hernias, common in males, may require surgical repair for moderate to severe cases, while mild cases can be monitored or wait.

Ag1 is a daily foundational nutrition supplement backed by research studies, containing 75 ingredients that support various aspects of health.

It offers a comprehensive formula, combining prebiotics, probiotics, and digestive enzymes to promote gut health and has been shown to double the levels of healthy gut bacteria.

Ag1's constant testing ensures continuous improvement and now offers a special promotion for first-time buyers.

The Role of Tunic Mucosa in Diverticulosis and Diverticulitis

Tunic mucosa is made of epithelial tissue and can absorb and secrete mucus, while the tunic muscularis is the smooth muscle that helps propel food.

Diverticulosis occurs when the tunic mucosa layer pushes through the tunic muscularis, forming outpouchings, which can lead to diverticulitis when inflamed.

The transition from diverticulosis to diverticulitis is not clearly understood, and treatment varies from watchful waiting and antibiotics to surgical procedures.

The spine shows significant degeneration in the midthoracic region, likely due to osteoporosis leading to thinning of the bones and intervertebral discs.

This degeneration causes the vertebral bodies to lose their square shape and wedge out, potentially impacting the individual's overall health.

Protecting the spine and minimizing the risk of conditions like osteoporosis is crucial for maintaining spinal health.