China-led research creates world’s first 3D-printed male sex organ for ED treatment

Chinese-led team uses hydrogel-based bioinks for 3D-printed implant able to replicate functional components of natural erectile tissue

Reading Time:2 minutes

More than 40 per cent of men aged 40 and above are said to have erectile dysfunction. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 12:00pm, 14 Mar 2025Updated: 5:38pm, 14 Mar 2025

A Chinese-led study has held out hope for a therapeutic solution to erectile dysfunction (ED) – using advanced biomedical 3D printing to treat the condition in animals in a world first.

ED affects more than 40 per cent of men aged 40 and above. The team of researchers used hydrogel-based bioinks to develop a 3D-printed penile implant system able to anatomically replicate all functional components of natural erectile tissue.

The animal subjects – pigs and rabbits – exhibited restored erectile capacity post-implantation, with reproductive success rates surging from 25 per cent in the control group to 100 per cent in the treatment group, the team said.

Details of the landmark study were published in Nature Biomedical Engineering on March 4.

“These findings indicate that the implants markedly improved functional recovery,” wrote lead author Wang Yingjun, who is an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering and president of the National Engineering Research Centre for Tissue Restoration and Reconstruction at the South China University of Technology.

The penis has the most complex vascular network of all human organs. Key to its function are the two corpus cavernosa, which run through the length of the organ and are critical for erectile function, and the tunica albuginea – a tough layer of connective tissue that surrounds the corpora cavernosa and helps to sustain the erection. When blood vessels within the corpus cavernosum are engorged, it results in an erection.