Interesting Green: Vagina

Source Website: http://www.todayonline.com/daily-focus/health/scientists-grow-functional-vaginas-labs?singlepage=true
By Reuters, Today, We set you thinking, Sunday 13 April 2014, Published: April 11, 10:35 PM

PHOTO: Women with implanted, lab-grown private parts report normal vaginal function
Engineered vaginas grown successfully in women for the first time.
Posted by Catherine de Lange on Thursday, April 10, 2014
Image Credit: Cliparea/Shutterstock via Science Alert.
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CHICAGO Four young women born with abnormal or missing vaginas were implanted with lab-grown versions made from their own cells, the latest success in creating replacement organs that have so far included tracheas, bladders and urethras.

Follow-up tests show the new vaginas are indistinguishable from the womens own tissue and have grown in size as the young women, who got the implants as teens, matured.

All four of the women are now sexually active and report normal vaginal function. Two of the four, who were born with a working uterus but no vagina, now menstruate normally.

PHOTO: Professor Yuanyuan Zhang, assistant professor at the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, demonstrates the process to engineer a vaginal organ in this undated handout photo provided by the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine.
Photo: Reuters
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It is not yet clear whether these women can bear children, but because they are menstruating, it suggests their ovaries are working, so it may be possible, said Dr Anthony Atala, director of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Centers Institute for Regenerative Medicine in North Carolina.

The feat, which Dr Atala and colleagues in Mexico describe in the journal the Lancet, is the latest demonstration from the growing field of regenerative medicine, a discipline in which doctors take advantage of the body's power to regrow and replace cells.

PHOTO: Regenerative Medicine: Re-Growing Body Parts
Creating an organ in the lab that can be transplanted into a patient without risk of rejection. It sounds like science fiction, but its not. Its the burgeoning field of regenerative medicine, in which scientists are learning to harness the body's own power to regenerate itself, with astonishing results.
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In prior studies, Dr Atalas team has used the approach to make replacement bladders and urine tubes or urethras in young boys.

He said the pilot study is the first to show that vaginal organs custom-built in the lab using patients own cells can be successfully used in humans, offering a new option for women who need reconstructive surgeries.

All four of the women in the study were born with Mayer-Rokitansky-Kster-Hauser (MRKH) syndrome, a rare genetic condition in which the vagina and uterus are underdeveloped or absent. Conventional treatment generally involves the use of grafts made from intestinal tissue or from skin, but both tissues have drawbacks, says Dr Atala.

PHOTO: Anatomy of the female reproductive system. The organs in the female reproductive system include the uterus, ovaries, fallopian tubes, cervix, and vagina. The uterus has a muscular outer layer called the myometrium and an inner lining called the endometrium.
From Cancer Information Japan, Ovarian Cancer Screening (PDQ), Last Modified : 2013-08-08
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Intestinal tissue produces an excess of mucus, which can cause problems with odour. Conventional skin, meanwhile, can collapse.

Dr Atala said women with this condition usually seek treatment as teenagers. They can't menstruate, especially when they have a severe defect where they don't have an opening, he said. This can cause abdominal pain as menstrual blood collects in the abdomen. It has nowhere else to go, he added.

Girls in the study were aged 13 and 18 at the time of the surgeries, which were performed between June 2005 and October 2008.

Vagina built in the lab from patient's cells

Posted by New Scientist, Published on Apr 10, 2014
From http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=IHF-lIu5D_U

The researchers started off by collecting a small amount of cells from genital tissue and grew two types of cells in the lab: Muscle cells and epithelial cells, a type of cell that lines body cavities. About four weeks later, the team started applying layers of the cells onto a scaffold made of collagen, a material that can be absorbed by the body. They then shaped the organ to fit each patient's anatomy, and placed it in an incubator.

A week later, the team created a cavity in the body and surgically attached the vaginal implants to existing reproductive organs. Once implanted, nerves and blood vessels formed to feed the new organ, and new cells eventually replaced the scaffolding as it was absorbed by the body.

PHOTO: Scientists Successfully Grow Vaginas In Lab
Scientists have successfully grown vaginas in a laboratory and implanted them into four teenage patients.
By Red Pepper, Published: April 11, 2014
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By the six-month time point, you couldn't tell the difference between engineered organ and the normal organ, Dr Atala said.

The team continued to monitor the young women, taking tissue biopsies, MRI scans and internal exams, for up to eight years from the initial implants.

PHOTO: All of these tests showed the engineered vaginas 'were similar in makeup and function to native tissue'.
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All of these tests showed the engineered vaginas were similar in makeup and function to native tissue, said Dr Atlantida-Raya Rivera, director of the HIMFG Tissue Engineering Laboratory at the Metropolitan Autonomous University in Mexico City, where the surgeries were performed.

Professor Martin Birchall of UCL Ear Institute in London, who wrote a commentary in the same journal, said the findings address some important questions about tissue-engineering, including whether tissue will grow as patients grow and whether an organ as large as the vagina can develop blood vessels when implanted in the body.
By Reuters, Today, We set you thinking, Sunday 13 April 2014, Published: April 11, 10:35 PM

PHOTO: Vagina
The human vagina is a part of the female body. Menstrual fluid (red, blood-filled liquid lost during a monthly period or menstruation) leaves the body through the vagina. During birth, the vagina opens to let the baby through from the uterus for independent life. The vagina is reddish pink in color, though colors may vary.

The vaginal opening is much larger than the urethral opening.

The G-spot is defined as a highly sensitive area near the entrance inside of the human vagina. If stimulated, it leads to a strong orgasm or female ejaculation in some women. Some doctors and researchers who specialize in the anatomy of women believe that the G-spot does not exist, and, that if it does exist, it is an extension of the clitoris.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vagina

PHOTO: Diseases reference index «Vagina»
The vagina is the female body part that connects the womb (uterus) and cervix to the outside of the body.

The vagina is a muscular tube lined with mucus membranes. Its opening is between the urethra (where urine exits the body) and the anus.

The vagina allows for the flow of menstrual blood and for sexual intercourse, and is the passageway through which a baby is born. Inflammation of the vagina is known as vaginitis.
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