Rabbits today, men tomorrow

There's a standard joke (except among the farmers of produce) that, among all animals, the rabbits are the most enthusiastic of lovers and, with no natural predators to keep down their numbers, they are likely to take over the world (and eat all the produce) through their breeding power. It is therefore somewhat ironic to read of research work carried out in the Institute of Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest University in New Carolina. Researchers have been practising their techniques to rebuild the muscle walls in the penis of rabbits. Instead of leaving the males to suffer from erectile dysfunction, surgeons have been trying to keep up their breeding reputation. So let's bring this back to Earth. With today's technology, if a human male has a serious accident, goes through surgery, say to remove a prostate cancer, or catches the wrong disease, and the penis is damaged, it cannot be repaired. The penis is actually a complicated piece of kit involving sponge-like tissue designed to soak up blood and a complicated system of arteries and veins to carry blood into and out of the penis. There are no quick fixes.

Now, thanks to the rabbit, there's hope for men with serious damage to their penis. The research is concentrating on growing new tissue in the laboratory. This starts with the collection of endothelial cells and cells from the smooth muscle walls of the penis. These cells are then used to coat a scaffold and allowed to grow. It takes several months but, when complete, the scaffold holds blood vessels and muscles matching those in the penis of the donor. Then it's just a matter of surgery to implant the scaffold to replace the damaged arteries. Once the surgery is complete and the rabbits recover, they have been able to achieve an erection and penetration 85% of the time. To go from complete impotence to such high levels of success is encouraging for men.

The technology for growing implants in the laboratory is increasingly common for human transplant purposes. Indeed, the same team has been growing bladders for implantation into humans for the last year or so. Applying the same technology to erectile dysfunction offers a remarkable opportunity. No matter how good a drug such as cialis, it cannot rebuild damaged muscles or replace lost nerve endings. Seeding the cell culture on the scaffold with the cells taken directly from the penis of the man awaiting surgery gives the maximum compatibility between the finished artificial organ and the donor. There is little likelihood of rejection. If the same success rate of 85% was experienced by men following surgery, this would be a remarkable recovery of a lost function. As it stands, many men postpone surgery for the removal of growths in the prostate because they fear the common consequences of impotence. Should this technique be proven, it would encourage men to have life-saving surgery earlier. Until the FDA formally approves the process, this will remain a distant prospect. But there is hope for men of all ages who suffer http://primary-survey.blogspot.com/2009/12/post-traumatic-stress.html injuries. If the team gets a license, such men may be able to enjoy a sex life again. Until then, the most they can expect is that they buy cialis and it works some of the time to produce an erection often less than complete hard.