Lab Grown Testicles Can Increase Chances Of Wounded US Soldiers, Veterans To Have Children

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Soldiers and veterans, who have been critically wounded during service and are no longer able to have children, may be able to do so with lab grown testicles, a research, funded by the U.S. military, found out.

Majority of the serious injuries incurred by thousands of American troops are due to explosive devices. Hundreds of soldiers have lost limbs, the ability to walk and, sometimes, the ability to reproduce. The research by Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine in North Carolina that is funded by Pentagon has created lab-grown testicles that could offer hope for those who have been injured in the genital area.

The researchers reportedly used some testicular stem cells from the wounded soldier in order to recreate a new testicle which can be capable of producing sperm. It is the reintroduced back to the patient. However, an obstacle that hinders the research from progressing is that the testicles grown in the lab so far are too tiny.

"The future plans are to grow the testicular tissue, expand the cells and put it back into the patient," said Dr. Anthony Atala, director at the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, via Motherboard. "But for a whole testicle, there is a very rich blood-vessel supply and that's the challenge. We can make them small, but we're working hard to make them larger."

Telegraph reported that it will take at least a decade before the procedure can be tested, approved and applied to soldiers and vets. It would also be a costly procedure as well.

"We're definitely in the early stages at this point. Even though we do have these functional tissues right now, there are still many steps that need to happen before we put this into a patient. I learned so many years ago never to predict timelines because they never work out," Dr. Atala said via National Post.

According to the Daily Mail, the U.S. soldiers are issued with two protective gears to protect the nether regions. This includes a Kevlar plate in synthetic silk underwear. However, soldiers have claimed that it does not protect them from explosion injuries.

Technology website Motherboard added that the lab-grown testicles aren't the first in the field of fertility technology. Testicular cancer patients have had their testicles biopsied and their sperm frozen before undergoing chemotherapy cancer treatment in order to not render them infertile should their treatment be successful. However, the lab-grown genitals are the first that have been freshly created out of stem cells which can be capable of fertilizing an egg without in vitro fertilization (IVF).