Researchers in China have used artificial tissue to restore erectile function in pigs, a promising development to repair penile damage in humans.
“This is an area that has not received much attention, but there is a need for it,” said Xuetao Shi, the author of the study published on Wednesday in the scientific journal Matter.
Peyronie’s disease
About 50 percent of men between the ages of 40 and 70 have some form of erectile dysfunction, researchers say, and about five percent have Peyronie’s disease.
Peyronie’s disease, which is usually caused by an injury during sex, causes damage to the fibrous sheath of penile tissue known as the tunica albuginea that allows it to maintain an erection.
Scar tissue called plaque can cause a curved or painful erection or shorten the penis and require surgical treatment. Chinese researchers say other tissues from the body have been used to make patches to replace damaged tunica albuginea but are sometimes rejected by the immune system.
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Instead, the research group created an artificial tunica albuginea (ATA) that mimics the elasticity of natural tissue with a substance called hydrogel. Hydrogels can be natural or synthetic and are used for a wide range of biomedical applications, including contact lenses and tissue engineering.
For the study, researchers tested the artificial tissue on Bama miniature pigs with tunica albuginea injuries.
The ATA patch and saline injection restore erectile function “to the same extent as normal penile tissue,” he said. ” he said.
Shi, a researcher at the South China University of Technology in Guangzhou, said that “the results one month after the procedure showed that the ATA group achieved good improvement results, although it was not perfect.” The researchers said the findings “show promise for repairing penile. injuries in humans” and may “extend to many other burden tissues.”
“Our work at this stage is focused on repairing a single tissue in the penis,” Shi said. Researchers will also explore techniques to repair other tissues, including the heart and bladder, Shi said.