# Testicle Transplant
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/testicle-transplant/354483
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [April 27, 2006, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/testicle-transplant/354483 "2006-04-27T18:01:26Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2006, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/testicle-transplant/354483/1 "2006-04-27T18:01:26Z")
Let’s say my friend’s nuts shrivel up due to some dread tropical disease he contacted while vacationing in Bora Bora. Being the generous fella I am, I give one of mine.
Are his kids actually going to be _mine_? Or will this all sort itself out after a few days (weeks? months?)?
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### Author:  [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2006, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/testicle-transplant/354483/2 "2006-04-27T18:10:34Z")
Well, it depends on if the docs hook up the vas deferens. It would be possible to just transplant the testicle, but not connect the ductwork, so your friend would have the equivalent of a vasectomy. But if they did the full connection, then since sperm are produced by tissue in the testicle any sperm the testicle mananged to produce would be genetically yours. There’s the possibility that even if they sewed up the vas deferens that there would be so much scar tissue from the join that very few sperm could squeeze through. The success rate should be roughly equivalent to a vasectomy reversal.
Note that I’ve never actually heard of a testicle transplant. I don’t know if such a thing has ever been done. But there’s no particular reason I can think of that it would be more difficult than a liver transplant, and it would be a lot less invasive.
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### Author:  [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2006, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/testicle-transplant/354483/3 "2006-04-27T18:10:44Z")
IF there were such a thing as a testicle transplant, you’re going to have to clarify what you mean by “sort itself out after a few days…”
During intercourse, there’s no way to tell which sperm came from which testicle, short of doing a DNA test on each one. If you’re talking about paternity tests on a baby born after such a transplant, then you’re getting into territory that hasn’t been explored yet, AFAIK, since such transplants have not been performed as of yet. At least I sure haven’t heard of any. If such a transplant were to be performed, then those issues would most assuredly arise, as it were. Presumably, if someone were to donate such an organ, one would be donating all that goes with it, including the cell making mechanism and that would include the DNA. But that’s an enormous ethical issue and might better be dealt with in GD. I’ll leave that up to the OP and the mods. Definitely an interesting question.
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### Author:  [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2006, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/testicle-transplant/354483/4 "2006-04-27T18:35:37Z")
Hey, that happened in one of Larry Niven’s early books, _A Gift from Earth_. The upper-class father of one of the main characters got old and, instead of taking hormone injections to keep his libido up, he had a testicular transplant from a lower-class guy, and the main character he fathered was considered a member of the lower class.
Heh heh … funny stuff.
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### Author:  [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2006, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/testicle-transplant/354483/5 "2006-04-27T20:43:43Z")
Hypothetical question:
What if I were a young guy, just married, and wanted to increase the chances of us having a kid? Could I get a transplant of a third testicle to increase those odds? Or a fourth?
(I know, quite a load to carry around 😉 )
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### Author:  [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2006, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/testicle-transplant/354483/6 "2006-04-27T21:59:19Z")
> [@CC](#):
>
> IF there were such a thing as a testicle transplant, you’re going to have to clarify what you mean by “sort itself out after a few days…”
I meant, once _his_ blood started pumping through there if the shift in DNA would start producing sperm that were genetically his instead of mine after a period of time.
Or IOW, are the sperm that the testicle in question produces going to be mine, DNA-wise, for the rest of the recipient’s life?
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### Author:  [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2006, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/testicle-transplant/354483/7 "2006-04-27T22:07:47Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#):
>
> Let’s say my friend’s nuts shrivel up due to some dread tropical disease
A friend? Right . . . yeah, I believe ya :rolleyes:
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### Author:  [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2006, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/testicle-transplant/354483/8 "2006-04-27T22:23:13Z")
Sperm are produced by special germ-line tissue in the testicle. Any sperm produced by a transplanted testicle would be genetically the donors. The recipient’s blood has nothing to do with it, in fact mammal red blood cells don’t even have nuclei.
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### Author:  [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2006, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/testicle-transplant/354483/9 "2006-04-27T22:46:09Z")
> [@Lemur866](#):
>
> Sperm are produced by special germ-line tissue in the testicle. Any sperm produced by a transplanted testicle would be genetically the donors. The recipient’s blood has nothing to do with it, in fact mammal red blood cells don’t even have nuclei.
What he said.
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### Author:  [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2006, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/testicle-transplant/354483/10 "2006-04-27T22:50:14Z")
> [@CC](#):
>
> if someone were to donate such an organ, one would be donating all that goes with it, including the cell making mechanism and that would include the DNA.
What I said
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### Author:  [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2006, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/testicle-transplant/354483/11 "2006-04-27T23:35:57Z")
> [@Jake](#):
>
> Hypothetical question:
> What if I were a young guy, just married, and wanted to increase the chances of us having a kid? Could I get a transplant of a third testicle to increase those odds? Or a fourth?
> (I know, quite a load to carry around 😉 )
With the number of sperm that you produce everyday, I can’t imagine that you can increase your odds any further.
Maybe the prospective mom should get an extra ovary or two or three.
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### Author:  [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2006, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/testicle-transplant/354483/12 "2006-04-28T01:58:34Z")
> [@CC](#):
>
> What I said
That too.
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### Author:  [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2006, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/testicle-transplant/354483/13 "2006-04-28T02:06:22Z")
> [@Smeghead](#):
>
> That too.
[What they said](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testicles)