California researchers will be able to transplant laboratory-made penises within five years. Hope for men with cancerous lesions or birth defects.
Scientists at the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine have been on the job for 20 years. 20 years of meticulous research to develop an organ as complex as it is useful: the penis.
It is therefore with pride that these researchers have announced, in the pages of the Guardian, the conclusive results of their research. Within five years, the penises they have made in the laboratory will be able to be transplanted into humans. The first tests, carried out on rabbits, are “very encouraging”.
8 rabbits ejaculated, 4 procreated
The Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine is a leader in regenerative medicine. In 1999, the team of 300 researchers was the first in the world to successfully implant a laboratory-created organ in a human – a bladder, in this case. Thirty organs later (kidneys, hearts, urethra, vaginas…), they attacked the penis.
In 2008, researchers thus transplanted artificial penises on 12 rabbits. “In the presence of females, all the rabbits tried to mate, eight managed to ejaculate and four then obtained offspring”, comments Antony Atala, urological surgeon, member of the team.
“Imagine the penis as a building …”
It takes researchers around 6 weeks to develop a functioning penis. Manufacturing does not take place ex nihilo, but from the organ of a donor. The penis is first emptied of all its cells. Then, the scientists create a collagen structure, which they seed with muscle tissue and cells from the recipient of the transplant.
James Woo, one of the team members, details the operation using a metaphor: “Imagine it as if it were a building. If you remove the furniture and people, it still remains the main structure of the building. Then you replace the old tenants with new ones. This is the idea. Except that the building is a penis, and the inhabitants of the cells. “
Limit the psychological impact
The operation has several advantages. First, according to the researchers, it considerably limits the risks of rejection and incompatibility, thanks to the use of the carrier’s cells. Then, it allows to develop truly functional penises. In fact, during traditional sex change operations (from woman to man), the new organ, obtained from the skin of the transplant recipient (of the forearm, for example), does not allow to have an erection. and even less to procreate.
Finally, this technique would limit post-operative psychological difficulties. Indeed, the first penis transplant, carried out in China in 2005 from the limb of a donor, turned out to be a failure. Two weeks after the operation, the transplant recipient asked to have his new penis removed, citing “serious psychological problems with his wife”. In fact, allografts can involve trauma, caused by seeing a dead person’s hand, foot, or penis on their own body. Here, even if the organ is constructed from that of a donor, its constitution is less foreign to the transplant recipient.
Artificial organs: the future of regenerative surgery?
All that’s missing is the green light from the American health authorities to be able to start human trials. “We have to provide all the safety data, prove that the materials are not toxic. We also have to explain the manufacturing process, step by step, ”explains Antony Atala.
These new transplants may concern people suffering from mutilation, cancerous lesions, deformities or erectile disorders. But those who wish to change their sex are excluded from the procedure, the cells of the future transplant recipient being necessary for the reconstruction of the organ.
According to The Guardian, the work of Anthony Atala’s team is part of a broader reflection on “the absolute necessity” of artificially generating organs to alleviate the shortage of donations.
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