They call me Tracy, Dick Tracy

American researchers say they have grown penis parts in a lab dish, offering hope for men who are less than well endowed, New Scientist reports.

But before anyone reaches for the phone, there's a small caveat.

The technique has only been tested on rabbits, and it will be a while before it can be tried with human tissue.

After growing a fully functional bladder in their laboratory, a team of tissue engineers headed by Anthony Atala of Harvard Medical School girded their loins for an assault on the male member.

"The penis is more complex than any of the organs we have engineered so far," Atala told the British scientific weekly.

Atala's team has grown corpora cavernosa - the spongey tissues that swell with blood during stimulation and makes the tissue erect.

His team first extracted "scaffolds" of collagen from the erectile tissue of rabbits and then used these as a framework on which to grow muscle cells and endothelial cells - the smooth, specialised cells which line blood vessels.

After letting this culture grow for a few days, Atala removed the exterior part of the penises of 18 luckless rabbits, leaving the nerves and urethra intact.

He then replaced them with the engineered erectile tissue - and once the rabbits had recovered from the surgery, they started to behave...well, like rabbits.

Within 30 seconds of being put in a cage with a female, the rabbits attempted to have sex.

They were able to copulate, penetrate and produce sperm, and because the implanted tissues were grown from the rabbits' own cells, there was no risk of rejection by the animal's immune system.

Atala discovered that the implanted tissue generated about half of the normal blood pressure of an erect penis - in other words, about the same as the penis of a 60-year-old man as compared to that of a 30-year-old man.

His lab is now trying to improve the quality of the tissue, to make it comparable to that of a young animal, and to engineer entire penises, including nerves.

If, eventually, the technique proves suitable for humans, it could be a boon for children born with genital abnormalities or for men who have suffered a penile injury, for instance from a botched circumcision.

But the most lucrative market of all would be for men who want a bigger penis. At present, desperate males often turn to prosthetic implants or injections of fat cells, which are expensive, prone to infection and failure.

The average size of the erect penis is much smaller than most men think. According to a 1995 study quoted by New Scientist, it is only 12.8 cms long.

In a sign of male sensitivity, an Italian study this year found that of 67 men who sought enlargement, all had penises well within the normal size range.

-- Anonymous, September 11, 2002

Answers

"about the same as the penis of a 60-year-old man as compared to that of a 30-year-old man." Figures!! Chubby Hubby turned 60 two days ago. :)

-- Anonymous, September 11, 2002

Parts is no longer parts, lol!

The Hungarian tells me I would be astounded at the number of penile implants we pay for for doddering old vets.

-- Anonymous, September 11, 2002

Can't wait to ask her why she knows that. LOL

-- Anonymous, September 12, 2002

She's an RN at the VA.

-- Anonymous, September 12, 2002

people carry all sorts of odd factoids in their heads. I'm still gonna ask her why she has that one.

LOL

-- Anonymous, September 12, 2002