A new study says that an artificial penis, made from a patient’s actual penile cells may someday help difficult cases of impotence.
According to HealthDay News, a study using male rabbits with severely damaged penises which received a graft of especially engineered penile tissue, showed that the animals re-grew full penises that functioned normally.
Dr. Ira Sharlip told the publication that the study gives new hope to researchers seeking a way to treat severe cases of impotence.
Sharlip did not participate in the study which was headed by Dr. Anthony Atala, director of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C. His team presented its findings Tuesday at the American Urological Association meeting in Atlanta.
Doctors say that many cases of severe impotence involve a condition called Corporal Fibrosis where the spongy tissue in the penis that maintains erections, are gradually replaced by inactive, fibrous scar tissue. The condition so far has been untreatable. Doctors say the disorder occurs when sensitive spongy tissue in the penis doesn’t get enough oxygen needed to survive due to a reduction of blood flow due to diabetes or other vascular diseases.
In their study, researchers harvested smooth muscle and blood-vessel cells from the penises of healthy rabbits. They then used these cells to “seed” a special collagen matrix filled with nutrients. The cells then multiplied and grew into new penile tissue.
Researchers removed all of the spongy tissue fro the penises of the donor rabbits and then grafted in the engineered tissue. Over the next six months, the animals’ penile growth was tracked.
The new penises were found to be similar as those of healthy rabbits, with the “artificial penis” shown to maintain normal erections as those of their healthier counterparts.
The rabbits later were able to mate with female partners who in turn conceived and delivered healthy pups.
Further studies are needed and could take many years before they could be applied on humans.
