injecting stem cells to regain erection ability
Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2015 12:21 pm
http://www.theguardian.com/education/20 ... -interview
The article's main topic is about growing penises in the lab. But part of it also talks about attempting to restore the ability to have normal erections for folks with less severely damaged penises, by injecting stem cells into the penis base:
"Lue is also hoping to restore erections, but for less severely damaged penises. For instance, some men become impotent after surgery for prostate or rectal cancer because the nerves that regulate erections, which run through the rectum and prostate into the centre of the penis, can get damaged. Likewise with traumatic injury, if the vessels are severed then the penis cannot fill with blood.
Microsurgery to connect the vessels and nerves in the penis is possible but often ineffective. Lue is testing whether injecting stem cells into the base of the penis can encourage the nerves and cells to rejoin. His work might also help Atala and Yoo to stimulate nerve and vessel regrowth when the day comes for the first in-man trial of a bioengineered penis. Twenty-two years into his research to bioengineer a human penis, Atala is a man who is both excited and impatient for that day. And you’d suspect he’s not the only one."
The article's main topic is about growing penises in the lab. But part of it also talks about attempting to restore the ability to have normal erections for folks with less severely damaged penises, by injecting stem cells into the penis base:
"Lue is also hoping to restore erections, but for less severely damaged penises. For instance, some men become impotent after surgery for prostate or rectal cancer because the nerves that regulate erections, which run through the rectum and prostate into the centre of the penis, can get damaged. Likewise with traumatic injury, if the vessels are severed then the penis cannot fill with blood.
Microsurgery to connect the vessels and nerves in the penis is possible but often ineffective. Lue is testing whether injecting stem cells into the base of the penis can encourage the nerves and cells to rejoin. His work might also help Atala and Yoo to stimulate nerve and vessel regrowth when the day comes for the first in-man trial of a bioengineered penis. Twenty-two years into his research to bioengineer a human penis, Atala is a man who is both excited and impatient for that day. And you’d suspect he’s not the only one."