Organ Transplantation, Regenerative Medicine & Tissue Engineering – Review Flashcards

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This set of 65 question-and-answer flashcards covers organ transplantation logistics, regenerative-medicine principles, extracellular-matrix biology, embryo-research limits, 3-D printing, mRNA therapeutics, and related ethical considerations.

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66 Terms

1
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What is the typical average wait-time for patients on an organ-transplant list?

About 3–5 years.

2
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The heart is the _ most needed solid organ for transplantation in the United States.

Second.

3
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What is regenerative medicine?

A field focused on repairing, replacing or engineering cells, tissues, and organs to restore normal function.

4
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Which animal’s tissue is most commonly used to build an experimental bio-engineered heart?

Pig tissue.

5
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Name one of the principal fibrous proteins found in the extracellular matrix (ECM).

Collagen.

6
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When constructing a new heart, what is the very first laboratory step?

Wash the donor heart with detergent to decellularize it and leave a protein scaffold.

7
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For how many days may synthetic or in-vitro embryos legally be grown in most countries?

14 days.

8
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3-D printing can be used to create which of the following? (objects, cells/tissues, food)

All of the above.

9
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An acceptable cadaver source for a bone graft is a _.

Human donor (cadaver).

10
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Legal death for organ donation is officially determined by absence of _ .

Brain function (brain death).

11
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After life support is withdrawn, a liver must be retrieved within _ minutes for a successful transplant.

30 minutes.

12
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Which factor is NEVER considered by UNOS when allocating donor organs?

The potential recipient’s income status.

13
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Name the eye disease that affects ~8 million Americans and is linked to loss of retinal pigmented epithelial cells.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

14
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After decellularization, which structural molecule is left behind in the heart scaffold?

Collagen.

15
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Why do researchers place a decellularized heart into a bioreactor?

To mimic mechanical/electrical beating and provide nutrients so new cells can repopulate the scaffold.

16
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At what developmental day does the human embryo first display the primitive streak?

Day 14.

17
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Groups of cells secrete their own support structure called the _.

Extracellular matrix (ECM).

18
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Which description does NOT apply to therapeutic mRNA?

Infectious.

19
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List four of the most common medical uses for 3-D printing.

Medical equipment/devices, anatomical models, implants and prosthetics.

20
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Which manufacturing approach does NOT require the costly tooling of conventional methods?

3-D printing.

21
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Within how many minutes should kidneys ideally be retrieved after circulatory death?

≈ 30 minutes.

22
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The emerging field that replaces malfunctioning cells with newly produced ones is called _.

Regenerative medicine.

23
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Stem-cell-derived human brain cells are currently used primarily for _.

Drug testing and disease modeling (e.g., Parkinson’s research).

24
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Name two cell types commonly used during heart recellularization to line vessels and seed chambers.

Endothelial precursor cells and cardiac muscle cells.

25
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Federal guidelines allow human embryos in the lab to develop for no more than _.

14 days.

26
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Which type of RNA is most stable and resistant to RNase degradation?

rRNA.

27
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A 3-D printer fabricates an object by reading a _ and reproducing it layer by layer.

Digital blueprint (CAD file).

28
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Stem cells that can become ANY cell type in the body are called _.

Pluripotent cells.

29
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Which carrier system is widely used to protect therapeutic mRNA in vivo?

Lipid nanoparticles.

30
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The detergent perfusion step during decellularization primarily _ .

Strips DNA and other cellular material from the tissue.

31
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According to public campaigns, what is often called the “ultimate act of human kindness”?

Organ donation.

32
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About how many people die each day in the United States while waiting for an organ?

Approximately 17 people.

33
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Name three solid organs that can sometimes be donated by a living person.

One kidney, part of a liver, and a lobe of lung.

34
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What is considered a crucial driving force behind regenerative medicine advances?

Stem cells.

35
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The extracellular matrix is primarily composed of which two macromolecule classes?

Proteoglycans and fibrous proteins.

36
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Collagen in the ECM associates closely with which adhesive glycoprotein?

Fibronectin.

37
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A decellularized scaffold heart does NOT need to be _ to function as a template.

Alive or beating.

38
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Who argued that time-based rules don’t apply to embryos not formed by fertilization?

Dr. George Church & Dr. Alexander Aach (often cited simply as Dr. Aach).

39
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Which university first kept fertilized human eggs alive for two days in a dish (1940s milestone)?

University of Cambridge.

40
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Which animal tissue offers a safer, virtually unlimited scaffold supply compared with human tissue?

Pig tissue.

41
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After the heart stops in donation after circulatory death, clinicians must wait _ before declaring death.

Five minutes without a heartbeat.

42
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The majority of deceased organ donations occur after what medical determination?

Brain death.

43
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Why are detergents pumped through a donor heart during organ engineering?

To remove all cellular material, leaving a clean protein scaffold.

44
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Name the two major macromolecules that form the extracellular matrix.

Proteoglycans and fibrous proteins.

45
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Early embryonic cells eventually segregate into three primary _.

Germ layers (ectoderm, mesoderm, endoderm).

46
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PEI-based nanocarriers are being explored mainly for _ applications.

Tissue regeneration and gene delivery.

47
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Typical overall waiting period many patients experience for donated organs is _.

3–5 years.

48
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Name two major complications associated with bone-graft transplantation.

Immune rejection and the possibility of being outgrown by children.

49
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Successful tissue engineering requires which trio of factors?

Appropriate cells, proper growth environment, and necessary biomolecules (growth factors).

50
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What is the primary role of a scaffold in tissue engineering?

Providing a structural framework on which cells can attach, grow and organize.

51
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The acronym “SHEEF” stands for what?

Synthetic Human Entities with Embryo-Like Features.

52
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Under proposed ethical rules, scientists must NOT create a SHEEF that _.

Can feel pain.

53
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One major advantage of mRNA-based therapy over DNA-based therapy is that mRNA is _.

Non-infectious and does not integrate into the host genome.

54
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Biological 3-D printing is best defined as _.

Fabricating 3-D tissues or structures using living cells and biomaterials layer by layer.

55
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Roughly what percentage of Europeans are registered as organ donors?

About 90 %.

56
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Biomaterials used in regenerative medicine can be or .

Natural or synthetic.

57
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During heart construction, the first critical step is to _ the donor heart.

Remove all cells with detergents, leaving only the protein scaffold.

58
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Which item is NOT a component of the extracellular matrix: fibrous proteins, polysaccharides, adhesion proteins, or compact bone?

Compact bone.

59
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Integrins are best described as _.

Transmembrane receptors (α/β subunits) that link cells to the ECM.

60
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In cell signaling, scaffold proteins primarily _ .

Organize and spatially regulate signaling pathways by bringing multiple partners together.

61
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Artificial mouse embryos in the lab were able to self-organize because embryonic stem cells _.

Communicated with each other and arranged themselves without external patterning cues.

62
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The overarching goal of regenerative medicine is to _.

Restore or replace damaged tissues or organs by activating the body’s own repair mechanisms or using engineered substitutes.

63
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One way nanoparticles assist regenerative medicine is by _.

Delivering therapeutic agents (e.g., growth factors, genes) directly to regenerating tissues.

64
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Which two advantages describe 3-D printing for tissue engineering?

It allows customizable scaffolds that mimic natural tissue and can replace damaged tissue or organs.

65
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Define stem cells.

Undifferentiated cells capable of self-renewal and differentiation into specialized cell types.

66
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A suitable regenerative-medicine treatment for a child lacking healthy bone marrow is _.

A stem-cell (bone-marrow) transplant.