The Triple Burner: Organic Reality or Chinese Fantasy? (Part 2)

Discovery of a new Organ: the Interstitium


In the first part of this article, we explored what Chinese medicine had taught us about the mysterious Triple Burner (or San Jiao). In this second part, we consider the possible relation between the TB and the recently discovered Interstitium.


Officialised in 2018, the interstitium is a brand new scientific and medical discovery. Its identification was made by accident and made possible only by the development of new technologies that allowed live visualisation of tissues. Before that, tissues had to be drained of their fluid in order to be observed on the slide of a microscope. Thus the interstitium, which is defined by it fluid holding and circulating function, could not be seen.

According the the scientists themselves : « There is no picture of the interstitium and of possible illustration of its structure. It's just there. »
This is strangely reminiscent of the Chinese definition of the Triple Burner : « an immaterial entrail. »

Once these fluid-filled sacs had been observed in vivo, scientists started to look for them in different places of the body and found them everywhere tissues move or are prone to being compressed by external forces. The fluid contained in the interstitium acts as a damper to protect organs, muscles or vessels from dammage.
This corresponds directly to the the function of TB5 (external barrier).



The interstitium covers all the organs contained in the Triple Burner, except the heart. From the perspective of the traditional texts, this comes as no surprise : as the Emperor, the Heart is not governed by the Triple Burner.

Just as with the lymphatic system, water plays a major role in the function of the interstitium. Again, this is completely unsurprising when you look at it from an ancient Chinese tradition. Water is the element that allows communication between Heaven and Earth. This is not to be understood as a simple adage ; it is a fundamental principle of Life itself and is found in every tradition and culture around the world, as well as in modern science.

Numerous studies show that our moods, behaviour, decisions and health are influenced by our natural environment  (Especially the weather changes). The Interstitium, inasmuch as we equate it to the Triple Burner, is therefore central in connecting us to our environment. It is directly responsible for the communication and interaction betwen the inside and the outside.

As far as we know this new organ (the biggest in the body) connects and regulates organs and tissues, but this is only looking at what it does inside. To draw more parallel betwen the interstitium and the triple Burner, we need to search for the function of the interstitium in our relation to the outisde world. Chinese medicine describes such function. It is the west that needs to catch up. There is still much research to be done to discover the « inside-outside interface » function of the interstitium.


There is one last but maybe most puzzling question that we may ask ourselves about this new organ. Due to its very structure, it could only be discovered thanks to ultra-modern technologies. How has China, in the middle of the bronze age, been able to identify it and so thoroughly define its complex nature and functions ?

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