1.媒體來源:
2.完整新聞標題/內文:
Scientists ready to test lab-grown penises on men
Penises grown in laboratories could soon be tested on men by scientists deve-
loping technology to help people with congenital abnormalities, or who have
undergone surgery for aggressive cancer or suffered traumatic injury.
實驗室培養的陰莖可望近期內在人體測試，以此幫助先先天性畸形、經歷過癌症治療手術
或承受過外傷的人。
Researchers at the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine in Winston-
Salem, North Carolina, are assessing engineered penises for safety, function
and durability. They hope to receive approval from the US Food and Drug Admini-
stration and to move to human testing within five years.
研究人員在偉克森林研究院對於再生醫療，正在評估兼具安全、功能跟耐受性的人工陰莖
。他們希望在五年內獲得美國食品藥物局的核准進入人體測試階段。
Professor Anthony Atala, director of the institute, oversaw the team's success-
ful engineering of penises for rabbits in 2008. "The rabbit studies were very
encouraging," he said, "but to get approval for humans we need all the safety
and quality assurance data, we need to show that the materials aren't toxic,
and we have to spell out the manufacturing process, step by step."
研究單位主持人，安森尼艾塔拉教授，監督整個研究團隊於2008年在測試人工陰莖於
兔子上的成功。"兔子的研究讓人非常鼓舞"他說，"但是要能獲准人體測試，我們需要
資料能確保安全與品質，我們需要展現這些材料並無毒性，並且我們需要一步一步說明
整個製作過程。"
The penises would be grown using a patient's own cells to avoid the high risk
of immunological rejection after organ transplantation from another individual.
Cells taken from the remainder of the patient's penis would be grown in
culture for four to six weeks.
這些陰莖會使用病患本身的細胞來培養以避免從另外一個人身上移植之後，產生免疫排斥
的高風險。
For the structure, they wash a donor penis in a mild detergent to remove all donor cells. After two weeks a collagen scaffold of the penis is left, on to which they seed the patient's cultured cells – smooth muscle cells first, then endothelial cells, which line the blood vessels. Because the method uses a patient's own penis-specific cells, the technology will not be suitable for female-to-male sex reassignment surgery.
"Our target is to get the organs into patients with injuries or congenital abnormalities," said Atala, whose work is funded by the US Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine, which hopes to use the technology to help soldiers who sustain battlefield injuries.
As a paediatric urological surgeon, Atala began his work in 1992 to help children born with genital abnormalities. Because of a lack of available tissue for reconstructive surgery, baby boys with ambiguous genitalia are often given a sex-change at birth, leading to much psychological anguish in later life. "Imagine being genetically male but living as a woman," he said. "It's a firmly devastating problem that we hope to help with."
Asif Muneer, a consultant urological surgeon and andrologist at University College hospital, London, said the technology, if successful, would offer a huge advance over current treatment strategies for men with penile cancer and traumatic injuries. At present, men can have a penis reconstructed using a flap from their forearm or thigh, with a penile prosthetic implanted to simulate an erection.
"My concern is that they might struggle to recreate a natural erection," he said. "Erectile function is a coordinated neurophysiological process starting in the brain, so I wonder if they can reproduce that function or whether this is just an aesthetic improvement. That will be their challenge."
Atala's team are working on 30 different types of tissues and organs, including the kidney and heart. They bioengineered and transplanted the first human bladder in 1999, the first urethra in 2004 and the first vagina in 2005.
Professor James Yoo, a collaborator of Atala's at Wake Forest Institute, is working on bioengineering and replacing parts of the penis to help treat erectile dysfunction. His focus is on the spongy erectile tissue that fills with blood during an erection, causing the penis to lengthen and stiffen. Disorders such as high blood pressure and diabetes can damage this tissue, and the resulting scar tissue is less elastic, meaning the penis cannot fill fully with blood.
"If we can engineer and replace this tissue, these men can have erections
again," said Yoo, acknowledging the many difficulties. "As a scientist and
clinician, it's this possibility of pushing forward current treatment
practice that really keeps you awake at night."
「如果我們能夠取代這些組織，這些男性將能夠再度勃起。」游說，承認這當中有許多
困「作為一個科學家跟醫生，這種能夠將現行的治療方式往前推進的可能性，真是的能夠
讓人晚上不眠。」
3.新聞連結:
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/oct/05/laboratory-penises-test-on-men
4.備註:
之前陰莖被太太剪斷沖掉的人有救了!!!