Erectile dysfunction is one serious medical defect that any sensible man will never wish for himself or close relatives or any man at that, because its consequences is not only psychologically ravaging, it can also lead to depression and suicide in extreme cases. It boosts the feeling of inferiority complexes and makes its victims feel very unmanly. And can cause marital break down (divorce) in situations involving sexually demanding spouses; taken the fun out of a man's life and reducing him to a shadow of himself! However, the latest breakthrough in which bioengineering specialists at Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine are claiming to have created artificial penises in the laboratory, could offer a new lease of life to victims of erectile dysfunction. Although the lab-grown penises are ready but will only be made available in hospitals after regulatory agency must have given its nod for full scale commercialization. It is hoped that this will happen within the next 2 years.
The Wake Forest scientists involved in this study are veterans in things like this. They had successfully transplanted lab-grown vaginas in women needing them, as well as recorded major feats with quite a number of other artificial organ transplant endeavors. Hence, their credentials are sterling and never in doubt.
How the milestone breakthrough was achieved
The team was led by Professor Anthony Atala, who is the Director of Wake Forest Institute. The growing of the artificial penises actually entails a two-way process. In the first approach, researchers take some tissues from the remainder of the victim's damaged penile tissues. This will ensure that chances of autoimmune rejection occurring is reduced to barest minimum when the resulting new organ is transplanted back on to the recipient. The tissues are then grown in the laboratory for four to six weeks, and kept in readiness for infusion into a collagen frame.
In the second approach, they researchers take the penis of a third party donor and wash it with a detergent to kill off all the living cells while preserving its collagen frame or scaffold on which the lab grown tissues produced in the first stage will be infused.
The collagen frame or scaffold is then infused with a combination of the grown penile (endothelial) cells and smooth muscle cells which is necessary to preserve the erectile ability of the resulting lab-grown penis.
Of the 12 male rabbits that received the team's lab-grown penises, each one ended up mating with a female as soon as they were put in contact, and four of these interactions resulted in pregnancies. Source
Following the success of this study, the team had gone further to produce six human penises that are ready for transplantation, and now awaiting approval from relevant bodies to commence human trials.
In a chat with Dara Mohammadi of the Guardian, Professor Atala said:
"The rabbit studies were very encouraging. But to get approval for humans we need all the safety and quality assurance data, we need to show that the materials aren't toxic, and we have to spell out the manufacturing process, step by step.”Source
Why Atala's approach will be more effective than the currently available approach when finally approved
Although there is already existing penile replacement surgical approach which has been around since the 1970's, but Professor Atala's approach will be a more effective approach when finally approved. This is because the already existing technique doesn't not make use living penile cells in building its own artificial penis. Rather, it involves the use of a prosthetic rod that has been encased with skin grafts obtained from the patient's arm or thigh. This is unlike Professor Atala's technique in which real erectile cells infused into the lab-grown penis during its building process.
Commenting on this, Dari Mohammadi said:
"At present, the only treatment option for these men is to have a penis constructed with skin and muscle from their thigh or forearm. Sexual function can be restored with a penile prosthetic placed inside. The prosthetics can be either malleable rods, with the penis left in a permanently semi-rigid state and thus difficult to conceal, or inflatable rods, which have a saline pump housed in the scrotum. Both technologies have been around since the 1970s. The aesthetics are crude and penetration is awkward.” Source
Even as this newly developed approach will help a lot of folks living with different aspects of penile dysfunctions when finally approved to be carried out on humans by relevant agencies, the study leader, Professor Atala is of the opinion that rather than starting out with total penile replacement, it will be safer to start with partial replacement first. And gradually scale up.
References for further reading
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