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Surname________________ Name ________________registration (matricola)_____________ Technologies for regenerative medicine - Prof. Manuela T. Raimondi Examination theme - 21 February 2017 Read the text below and answer, point by point, to the related questions. Cell therapy for Parkinson's disease. A new cell therapy for Parkinson's disease is based on the use of mesenchymal stromal cells. In this therapeutic strategy, cells are obtained, expanded in vitro, seeded on a polymeric scaffold made of woven solid cylindrical microfibers, of diameter d, and maintained in high-density three-dimensional culture. Within the scaffold, the thickness of the cell layer covering the external surface of each microfiber is of constant value, s. The cellular construct is maintained in culture in a bioreactor which interstitially perfuses the construct with plasma obtained from the patient, and guarantees maintenance of the oxygen saturation concentration, c p, in the plasma in contact with the external surface of the cell layer. At regular intervals, the plasma is harvested after its passage in the bioreactor, purified from specific metabolites, and injected in the carotid of the patient so that the soluble factors secreted by the mesenchymal cells, present in the plasma, can reach the cerebral dopaminergic neurons and exert a neuroprotective action to delay the course of degeneration. To date, the first ten human patients have been treated using this therapeutic strategy. Answer briefly to the questions in the table (points 5/33): What is the therapeutic product? The plasma, loaded with soluble factors secreted by cells and injected in the patients What are the elements that identify the therapeutic product as a PTC? The main therapeutic agent is the plasma enriched with secretome…