WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT. Researchers in Japan found that transplanting the testes to the neck is \u2018more simple and reproducible,\u2019 with potential to improve the success rate.<\/b>
\nScientists have successfully conducted testicle-to-neck transplants in rats, in a breakthrough that could one day help preserve fertility in human cancer patients.
Testes are known to be \u2018immunologically privileged,\u2019 meaning they are able to resist rejection after a transplant.
But, the technical difficulty of transplanting the organ means experimental procedures of this kind have so far been \u2018extremely limited.\u2019
Now, researchers in Japan have discovered that transplanting the testes to a different part of the body is \u2018more simple and reproducible,\u2019 with potential to cut down operation time and improve the success rate.
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In the new study, the researchers from Tokyo Medical University and Aichi Medical University investigated how transplanted testes can survive in a recipient\u2019s cervical region (or, the neck) .
Earlier efforts have shown that, when transplanted into immunodeficient animals, a donor\u2019s testes can continue to create sperm to some degree.
But, the researchers explain, \u2018it is important to determine how grafts of testicular cells, tissues, or whole organ are immunologically accepted or rejected in \u201cimmunocompetent\u201d recipients,\u2019 meaning those with normal immune function.
To find out, the team performed two types of procedures: orthotopic testis transplantation (OTT) , in which the testes are transplanted into their normal place, and heterotopic testis transplantation (HTT) , which, in this case, saw the testes transplanted into the neck.
The researchers performed the unconventional HTT procedure on 12 rats \u2013 and, this yielded a 100 percent success rate.
The OTT procedure, on the other hand, had a success rate of 71 percent.
And, in addition to the higher success rate, the testicle-to-neck operation turned out to be \u2018significantly shorter,\u2019 taking an average of about 60 minutes to complete, compared with the 154 minutes seen in the OTT operations.
Still, the researchers identified three issues that \u2018must be considered\u2019 in the cases where the testes had been put into a recipient\u2019s neck: the potential temperature difference, blood flow disturbance as a result of folding the testicular vessels, and drainage of the vas deferens.
According to the study, published to PLOS One, the work is a step toward better understanding testicular immunology.
This could, in turn, help to create better methods for people who endure medical procedures that hinder the production of sperm.
\u2018Chemotherapy or radiation therapy for malignant cancers often injure the spermatogenesis of young patients,\u2019 the authors wrote.
\u2018In particular, prepubertal patients may suffer from permanent infertility because mature spermatozoa in semen cannot be cryopreserved prior to therapy.
\u2018Thus, transplantation of children\u2019s testes and epididymides to their fathers or brothers before receiving medical therapy may be helpful for obtaining mature spermatozoa from the transplanted testes at a future date.
\u2018It is also possible that the transplanted testes in recipients are transplanted back into donors after medical treatment.\u2019<\/p>\n

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