The objective is to develop an easier technique for regenerating corpora cavernosa tissue through transplantation of human bone marrow?derived CD133+cells into a rat corpora cavernosa defect model. We excised 2 mm × 2 mm squares of the right corpora cavernosa of twenty?three 8?week?old male nude rats. Alginate gel sponge sheets supplemented with 1 × 104 CD133+cells were then placed over the excised area of nine rats. Functional and histological evaluations were carried out 8 weeks later. The mean intracavernous pressure/mean arterial pressure ratio for the nine rats (0.34258 ± 0.0831) was signiifcantly higher than that for eight rats with only the excision (0.0580 ± 0.0831, P=0.0238) and similar to that for ifve rats for which the penis was exposed, and there was no excision (0.37228 ± 0.1051, P=0.8266). Immunohistochemical analysis revealed that the nine fully treated rats had venous sinus?like structures and quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction analysis of extracts from their alginate gel sponge sheets revealed that the amounts of mRNA encoding the nerve growth factor (NGF), and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) were signiifcantly higher than those for rats treated with alginate gel sheets without cell supplementation (NGF:P=0.0309;VEGF:P<0.0001). These ifndings show that transplantation of CD133+cells accelerates functional and histological recovery in the corpora cavernosa defect model.