Susan's Place Transgender Resources

Using tissue grown in a laboratory, researchers have engineered fully functional replacement penises. The organs were made for rabbits, but the technique may someday be useful for people.

"This technology has considerable potential for patients requiring penile construction," wrote researchers in a study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Leading the team was Anthony Atala, director of Wake Forest University's Institute of Regenerative Medicine. Atala is best known for developing a technique in which cells are taken from an organ and sprayed onto a frame made of collagen, the primary structural protein in animal tissue. The structure is then bathed with growth-stimulating compounds and kept in an oven that duplicates the body's temperature and chemical composition.

Given these starting conditions, natural biology does the rest. The cells divide and arrange themselves in natural, working configurations.
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Link; http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/11/penis-engineering/ (http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/11/penis-engineering/)
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A friend linked me this.
I'm still... out of words

I knew this was coming! I knew it!

I wonder if that woiuldn't eventually lead to true gender reconstruction.

i.e. eventually you could create functioning testes, ovaries, and so forth...

I've googled it three times already trying to make sure it's not a gag.

Quote from: Laura Hope on November 09, 2009, 02:59:34 PM
I wonder if that woiuldn't eventually lead to true gender reconstruction.

i.e. eventually you could create functioning testes, ovaries, and so forth...

Well they've been dabbling a lot with this technology, so they might experiment.

It's exciting and kind of frightening at the same time.

That and is it something anyone will be able to even afford? In my lifetime?

Quote from: Kurzar on November 09, 2009, 03:51:55 PM
That and is it something anyone will be able to even afford? In my lifetime?

Maybe if we start saving up... oh.. now?

Quote from: Kurzar on November 09, 2009, 03:51:55 PM
That and is it something anyone will be able to even afford? In my lifetime?

Probably. While current bottom surgery isn't cheap, overtime I can see this being just as available. They're working on this type of technology for the benefit of everyone, not just the rich guys.

My first thought when I read this was.... I wonder when the proceedure is fit for humans will it make the humans act like rabbbits ??? :D :D

Quote from: Catherine on November 09, 2009, 04:16:42 PM
My first thought when I read this was.... I wonder when the proceedure is fit for humans will it make the humans act like rabbbits ??? :D :D

My sex drive is insane anyways lol   Unfortunately there is no 'saving up' for me. I am already in debt over $120,000 in medical bills and that isn't counting any other bills like our $60,000 something mortgage. *sigh*

Quote from: Laura Hope on November 09, 2009, 02:59:34 PM
I wonder if that woiuldn't eventually lead to true gender reconstruction.

i.e. eventually you could create functioning testes, ovaries, and so forth...

I'm sure the day will come when any specific organs can be created. But creating it is one thing, successfully transplanting it is quite another...

My hopes are for this technology to be utilized in tissue grafting in the neovagina.

Basically start with SRS, and then go in for treatments/injections/grafts to make the tissue more and more natural. Implant things that should be there, etc...


If they can do this... With rabbits. Then why the hell not?

i was about to post this but i see someone beat me to it
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/11/10/2738398.htm (http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/11/10/2738398.htm)

I think it's true, they already do some stuff a bit like this for growing skin for burns victims and i think maybe also bone, how they'd build the scaffold might be a bit of an expense/logistics issue though, a penis is a pretty complicated organ compared to a layer of skin.

I think there'd be a moderately high risk of tissue grown this way turning cancerous, so it may be a long while before they are willing to graft it onto a human without some immediate and direct threat to their life (burns, heart failure, some other vital organ not working). But being somatic cells (normal cells) rather than stem cells probably makes it a bit safer. Also not having to find ova or embryos for stem cells makes it likely to be cheaper and easier to obtain. I think it will take at least 5 years though (probably a lot longer) to get to human stage.

One thing that i'd be particularly sceptical of is that they don't seem to be saying much about nerve tissue, i'd say that was pretty important for a sex organ, but given the quality of current phaloplasty it's gotta be an improvement on that, and won't literally cost an arm. Even if i'd been more tempted before, the donor-site photos i've seen for phalo are enough to turn me right off it.

The research is due to be published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, but the article doesn't seem to be online....yet.

However, Dr. Atala has been working on this project for 18 years, which prompted me to check for prior research.  Here is an abstract from seven years ago, where he reported success with constructing penile erectile tissue in rabbits.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12352353?itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum&ordinalpos=5 (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12352353?itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum&ordinalpos=5)

A possible problem with the current technique is that it relies on multiplying erectile cells taken from the patient:

QuoteIf the scientists do try and help people with this research, naturally they will not use rabbit cells with men.

"We would take a small sample of a patient's erectile tissue, extract the cells we need and multiply them in the laboratory," Atala explained. "The resulting tissue would be a perfect match for the patient.

http://www.livescience.com/health/091109-artificial-penis-tissue-rabbits.html (http://www.livescience.com/health/091109-artificial-penis-tissue-rabbits.html)

I'm not sure that that donor erectile cells could be used, but if so I don't think potential donors would be hard to find.  All it would take is a post here.  :D

Amazing news for f2ms :) I'm really happy to finally see things progressing for you guys.... Its about time :)

actually females (at least biofemales) have plenty of erectile tissue, it's just a different shape and differently shaped. I have heard though that the total volume is comperable to a male, and i heard that from an anatomy professor. So there's donor tissue available on an FtM, not much to spare and it's in obviously sensitive bits but you wouldn't need to resort to a non-patient donor.

... hubby has looked at this and gone "hrrrmpfh!.. this means you could, in theory, when the technology is ready, choose your own size! that's not entirely fair... I didn't get to choose... " ^^

Quote from: The None Blonde on November 10, 2009, 06:48:43 AM
Amazing news for f2ms :) I'm really happy to finally see things progressing for you guys.... Its about time :)

Its amazing news for anyone with flesh bodies. This science could be applied to anything else assuming one had a different approach for vaginal stuff...


But seriously... I agree.

to be honest, im more pleased for f2ms to see some decent surgical result in the near future.... We have a fairly good result, and while its not perfect... i'd rather that than a penis... f2ms have had hard luck (pardon the pun) till now... this is a glimmer of light that things can be better, so without diverting thier spotlight, fair play, and i hope this does become available.

Quote from: metal angel on November 10, 2009, 07:04:40 AM
actually females (at least biofemales) have plenty of erectile tissue, it's just a different shape and differently shaped.

Great!  That is welcome news.

I still can't find the article or abstract online at Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences  (http://www.pnas.org/).  However, Wake Forest did publish a press release.
http://www.wfubmc.edu/penile-erectile-tissue-replacement.htm (http://www.wfubmc.edu/penile-erectile-tissue-replacement.htm)

I read this as an Aussie scientist and thought.
Great. Here we are a country over run by rabbits, terrible destructive vermin. Now some clown has found a way make more randy rabbits, what a break through. Next time they'll make Cane toads with wings.

Aplogies this is a bit of an Aussie joke/comment.

Realistically I thing organ culture techniques are going through an exposion at the moment. Hang out for some very exciting news.

Hugs
Cindy. Now where's that darn rawwbit

Anyone here play Bioshock?

Quote from: Miniar on November 10, 2009, 01:47:22 PM
... hubby has looked at this and gone "hrrrmpfh!.. this means you could, in theory, when the technology is ready, choose your own size! that's not entirely fair... I didn't get to choose... " ^^

Then again, once the technology is ready he will also be able to choose his own size, he'll just have to go through a smaller-scale version of the surgery you'll have, with somewhat smaller but still significant risks. Considering the amount of penis-enlargement advertising we all get already, his surgery is even likely to become available sooner than yours...

But back to the main topic, this sounds really promising. Yay!

  Nfr

Okay, the actual article is finally online.  It is titled "Bioengineered corporal tissue for structural and functional restoration of the penis."

Sadly, to view it will cost $10.  But here is the abstract:

QuoteVarious reconstructive procedures have been attempted to restore a cosmetically acceptable phallus that would allow normal reproductive, sexual, and urinary function in patients requiring penile reconstruction. However, these procedures are limited by a shortage of native penile tissue. We previously demonstrated that a short segment of the penile corporal body can be replaced using naturally derived collagen matrices with autologous cells. In the current study, we examined the feasibility of engineering the entire pendular penile corporal bodies in a rabbit model. Neocorpora were engineered from cavernosal collagen matrices seeded with autologous cells using a multistep static/dynamic procedure, and these were implanted to replace the excised corpora. The bioengineered corpora demonstrated structural and functional parameters similar to native tissue and male rabbits receiving the bilateral implants were able to successfully impregnate females. This study demonstrates that neocorpora can be engineered for total pendular penile corporal body replacement. This technology has considerable potential for patients requiring penile reconstruction.

http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2009/11/12/0909367106.abstract (http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2009/11/12/0909367106.abstract)

I guess we'll just have to wait for the printed journal to show up in the library.

you could skip some of the engineering if you got a donor organ to strip the cells away from and re-seed with patient's cells... not sure how that would go down though, too many people needing harts and livers right now to risk anything that may reduce donor organ numbers by creeping out a few people.

Quote from: Kara-Xen on November 10, 2009, 09:51:37 PM
Its amazing news for anyone with flesh bodies. This science could be applied to anything else assuming one had a different approach for vaginal stuff...


But seriously... I agree.

It already has been applied to "vaginal stuff" on humans. I posted on this topic over a year ago but it got a few laughs (rabit penis jokes) and very little attention.

I would love to know why none of the SRS doctors have spoken about this New technology, it seems like it would make SRS much easier with better outcomes.


Maybe we should begin a campaign of contacting doctors such as Bowers, Brassard, Metlzer, etc.. and ask them why they are not investigating the possibilities using this technique.  What do you think?



here is some info:

"http://news.softpedia.com/newsPDF/Breakthrough-Lab-Grown-Vaginas-59903.pdf"

"http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2007/05/31/1938525.htm?site=science&topic=health"



"Current methods to reconstruct a
vagina are based on grafted skin or intestinal tissue, but this surgery is highly invasive,
lengthy and painful, requiring a long time to grow a normal vagina mucosal wall. But now,
Marchese has managed to build brand new vaginas in two MRKHS women, using their own
cells to get vaginal tissue in the lab for the first time.


The mucosal tissue covers the
inside of the vagina, the mouth, digestive and breathing tracts. "What we do is to take a little
biopsy of 0.5 centimetres from the place the vagina should be," said Marchese.Using an
enzyme, the researchers broke down the tissue and cultivated stem cells (immature type) to
grow new, mucosal tissue on their own. "It takes about 15 days to get a thick enough layer
to transplant into the patients," said Marchese. Marchese investigated the use of stem cells
to build sheets of skin in vitro to get skin grafts for burn victims at Harvard Medical School."

wiki updated (thanks Jesslee)
the full paper on this research can be freely viewed here
http://humrep.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/22/7/2025 (http://humrep.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/22/7/2025)

the reason it isn't being done for trans women, is the need for a full thickness sample to cultivate the stem cells with, once that's figured out, in persons lacking the cells, by using other cells, then it can be trialed on trans peeps (currently it's for persons born intersex)

so transwomen don't have the right source tuissue to grow the graft from?

Quote from: metal angel on December 05, 2009, 08:24:33 PM
so transwomen don't have the right source tuissue to grow the graft from?

QuoteThe patient was subjected to a 1 cm² full-thickness mucosal biopsy from the vaginal vestibule.

no, not using the linked technique as is