Damage to parts of the penis vital for proper erections has been repaired for the first time with the help of stem cells. In rats, the treatment restored full erections, improved blood flow and accelerated healing.
Ultimately, the researchers hope to treat the 3 to 9 per cent of men who have Peyronie's disease, which damages the membrane surrounding the chambers within the penis that swell with blood during arousal. This makes it difficult to achieve a straight erection.
Wayne Hellstrom of Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, and colleagues, extracted stem cells from fat and placed them onto layers of tissue taken from the lining of pig intestine. This material, called small intestinal submucosa (SIS), is already used to replace damaged membrane in men with Peyronie's disease, but Hellstrom wanted to see whether adding stem cells would improve healing.
Two months after therapy, tissue analysis showed less scarring and higher levels of regenerative agents such as fibroblast growth factor ? which accelerate healing ? in rats treated with SIS plus stem cells compared with those treated with SIS alone. "The stem cells induced factors that enhanced blood supply, tissue restoration and erectile function," says Hellstrom.
Production of enzymes that make a blood vessel relaxant vital for erections was also higher in rats given the stem cells. Hellstrom hopes to be able to offer a similar treatment to men.
"The apparent mechanisms of action are consistent with other clinical studies showing that fat-derived stem cells are particularly good at improving blood supply and reducing scarring," says Marc Hedrick of regenerative medicine firm Cytori in San Diego, California.
Read more: "Stem cells turn into breast implants"
Journal reference: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1113810109
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