/sci/ - Science & Math

>>15637153
proof

>Clitoris grows from taking androgenic hormones
>The adult penis does not
I think it would be interesting to figure out the androgen induced growth mechanism at play in clitoromegaly and then study how the penis differs as a start. Since the clitoris is pretty much a mini penis in many regards.

>>14738439
Personally I think the answer doesn't lie in stem cells but in epigenetic reprogramming.

The set of genes that cause penis growth exists in every adult male, but it has been turned off since the end of puberty by epigenetic means. All you'd have to do is activate all or a couple of these genes in a controlled manner to reactivate the growth function of the penis.

Interestingly, this has been done in mouse models where mouse neurons were epigenetically modified to regain a youthful regenerative ability (neurons heal very slow or not at all in adult mammals). It was done with astounding precision too, select nerves could be targeted by the virus delivery mechanism and the rejuvenation effect only persisted as long as the mice ate a certain medicine. So you could stop the effect by having the mice quit the medicine. No cancer was developed either.

Do the same but target the penis and you could regain the growth function like you had during puberty and turn it off at will.

We all know the penis develops during puberty in response to certain androgens (HCG, HGH, testosterone amongst others), but what determines when the growth stops? A fully developed male still has considerable levels of these androgens in his blood, yet the penis has stopped responding to them with tissue growth. Females respond to high levels of these hormones with developing clitoromegaly (their clitoris grows in size) and the clitoris is the female homologue to the penis. Likewise, boys and men with micropenis also respond to the aforementioned androgens with growth of their penis. There is some sort of mechanism that stops the cells of the penis from responding to these androgens once a man has reached maturity.

If this mechanism could be reversed or blocked, we could achieve chemical penis enlargement by way of hormones. What makes me think this could be realistically achieved is the fact that scientists have reversed the sertoli cells of rat testicles (sertoli cells are supportive cells that proliferate before puberty and determine the testicle size in the adult individual) back to a proliferative state. The sertoli cells started proliferating in the adult rat testes which grew the testicles. It doesn't seem too unrealistic that the cells of the penis could also be reverted to a "young" state where they respond to stimuli like cells of a pubertal boy would.

High quality penis enlargement is unironically on the horizon, I'd guess within 10 years.

Are there ways to test your DNA to trace your ethnicity without giving it away to a third party testing company?