The future of medicine just might include prosthetic penises that can be printed on demand.
Researchers from the U.S., Japan, and China conducted the study,publishedlast week in Nature Biomedical Engineering.
The teams model even mimicked the urethral structures found in a typical penis.
Two European rabbits mating in the summer.© Ger Bosma Photos via Shutterstock
These implants were then transplanted into rabbits and pigs that had a partly damaged corpus spongiosum.
The results only show off a proof-of-concept for now.
Our findings support the further development of 3D-printed blood-vessel-rich functional organs for transplantation, they wrote.
The team’s biomimetic model of a penis’s head and corpus cavernosum. © Wang et al/Nature Biomedical Engineering
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From top to bottom: Images showing a normal pig penis; a penis with a damaged corpus cavernosum; and a pig penis repaired with the team’s implant fused with endothelial cells two weeks after the transplant. © Wang et al/Nature Biomedical Engineering
