In their online report for the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, November 9 issue, researchers from the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine have said that their tissue engineering method can help replace penile erectile tissue and function in animals.

The researchers said that the penile tissue which was grown in the laboratory and implanted in the rabbits with damaged penises could restore the sexual function of these animals.

Elaborating on the tissue engineering experiment, the study’s co-author, Anthony Atala, MD, director of the Wake Forest Institute, said that smooth muscle cells and endothelial cells were extracted from the penises of the animals, and separately grown in the lab on rod-shaped collagen scaffolds. For providing body-like conditions to the scaffolds, they were placed in an incubator and nourished by fluids.

Upon the maturity of the cells, the scaffolding and the newly-formed penile spongy tissue, called corpora cavernosa, was implanted surgically into the penises of the rabbits. A month later, the tissue began to reconstitute itself and, with time, the collagen structure was reabsorbed, and the cells started building their own collagen structure.

Saying that the tissue engineering treatment helped the ‘repaired’ rabbits impregnate four out of 12 female rabbits, Atala added: “Our hope is to be able to treat patients with many conditions, including congenital abnormalities of the penis, traumatic injuries, penile cancer and severe cases of erectile dysfunction that don't benefit from drug treatments.”