The future of medicine may involve the use of prosthetic penises that can be created on demand using 3D printing technology. A recent study has shown that a 3D-printed penile implant can restore sexual function in animals.

A team of researchers from the United States, Japan, and China conducted the study, which was published in Nature Biomedical Engineering. The study involved experiments with pigs and rabbits that had damaged penile tissue, and the results showed that the 3D-printed gel-based implant allowed the injured animals to successfully mate and reproduce as usual. According to the researchers, this technology could lead to better functional replacements for penises and other organs that are rich in blood vessels.

The complexity of the penis, due to its intricate network of blood vessels and tissues, has made it challenging for scientists to create accurate models in the lab. However, the researchers claim that their latest work represents a significant breakthrough in this area.

The researchers first created a model of the glans, the “head” of the penis, and the corpus spongiosum, the spongy tissue that surrounds the urethra and contains the blood vessels responsible for erection. The team’s model also mimicked the urethral structures found in a typical penis.

Next, they 3D-printed a gel-based scaffold modeled after the corpus spongiosum, designed to withstand the expansion of a penis during sex. These implants were then transplanted into rabbits and pigs with partly damaged corpus spongiosum. The researchers also seeded some of the implants with endothelial cells from the animals, hoping that the fusion would improve their functionality.

The implants significantly improved the animals’ erectile function within weeks, particularly when seeded with endothelial cells. The animals with fused implants showed improved tissue regeneration, and their erectile function essentially returned to normal, allowing them to reproduce with 100% effectiveness.

According to the researchers, “The fertility of the [endothelial cell] groups demonstrates the recovery of erectile function and the ability to ejaculate, suggesting the restoration of the cavernous tissue in the treated males.”

Although the results are currently only a proof-of-concept, the scientists believe that their model can facilitate the study of erectile dysfunction and lead to the creation of functional replacements for the penis and similar organs. Further research is needed to develop implants that can regenerate and restore more severely damaged penises in humans.

“Our findings support the further development of 3D-printed blood-vessel-rich functional organs for transplantation,” the researchers wrote.