Scientists have developed a synthetic tissue that repairs injuries and restores normal erectile function in a pig model, in a study publishing January 4 in the journal Matter. The findings suggest that the artificial tunica albuginea (ATA), which mimics a fibrous sheath of tissue necessary to maintain erections, shows promise for repairing penile injuries in humans.
“We largely foresaw the problems and results of the ATA construction process, but we were still surprised by the results in the animal experiments, where the penis regained normal erection immediately after the use of ATA,” said Xuetao Shi, a researcher at the South China University of Technology in Guangzhou, China, and an author of the study.
“The greatest advantage of the ATA we report is that it achieves tissue-like functions by mimicking the microstructure of natural tissues,” he added. “This design approach is not limited to the biomimetic design of tunica albuginea tissues but can be extended to many other load-bearing tissues.”
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