New Study Gives Hope to Sexually Impaired Men

No, it is not a study about a new drug that improves on what Viagra can do, it is something even better than that. Researchers from North Carolina’s Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center’s Institute for Regenerative Medicine successfully have completed a study that may help male patients who are suffering from inborn abnormalities of the reproductive organ, penile cancer, erectile dysfunction, and those who are sexually impaired as a result of accident. The researchers have grown erectile tissue in the laboratory and  have used it successfully in restoring the sexual function in rabbits. The scientists started by collecting smooth muscle cells and endothelial cells from the erectile tissue of rabbits. The cells were then grown in test tubes in the laboratory. After the cells matured and formed a sponge-like tissue, the process of surgically implanting the new erectile tissue in the rabbits followed. After a month, the implanted tissue began to reconstitute itself and formed the blood vessels necessary for erection. In time, the rabbits’ sexual functions were fully restored. The study was published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“We were able to show the tissue was able to integrate and function in the long term, which means we can start planning clinical applications in humans. 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,” the director of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and senior author of the study, Dr. Anthony Atala said.

The study is really promising, but it is still in the early stage. This gives a lot of men hope because the researchers have shown that it is possible to grow erectile tissue in the laboratory. More than 30% of men do not respond to drugs for erectile dysfunction, and this study aims at addressing their problem.