The proceeds of the concert in Rome for research on spinal pathologies
July 3, 2017 - It is a story that began in 2015 that binds the Maestro Ennio Morricone atUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma. Due to a broken femur that occurred on the night between 2 and 3 August 2015, the Oscar winner for Lifetime Achievement was operated on a few days later by the prof. Vincenzo Denaro, today Chief Emeritus of Orthopedics at the Campus Bio-Medico University Hospital. Incredibly the celebrated artist is back on his feet the September 12 at the Verona Arena to conduct a concert which – as promised by prof. Denaro – it was not necessary to cancel.
Gratitude for the skill of the orthopedist (watch video interview with Morricone) has turned this year into a great gesture of generosity: the proceeds from the Morricone concert of 7 July at the Foro Italico in Rome, inside the 60 Years of Music World Tour, will be donated to the research project UCBM on spinal diseases. A multi-year enterprise whose experiments on animal models have already taken place and ended six months ago.
A project on stem cells for regenerative therapies of the musculoskeletal system
"Spinal diseases are one of the most frequent causes of disability in young people of working age – explained the prof. Vincenzo Denaro – representing a large expense for public assistance and a huge damage to the quality of life”. These are pathologies - osteoarthritis, herniated discs, instability, loss of relationship between the vertebrae - which for the most part originate from damage to the intervertebral disc, a real shock absorber made up of 84% structures containing water (mucopolysaccharides ) and inserted in a ring, which allows to receive the weights that are continuously loaded on the column. An injury, that of the disc, which manifests itself precisely with the loss of water and the substances that hold it.
"Indeed, The aim of our study is to rehydrate the disc nucleus through contact with stem cells. Having already tested this possibility in the laboratory and on large animals, the ambition is now to perfect microsurgical techniques to introduce stem cells into the injured disc (which appears black in MRI), passing through the vertebrae, to stop degeneration, "Said Denaro. Since the stem cells, called mesenchymal, taken from the same individual are in small quantities, it is necessary to encourage their reproduction before implantation. UCBM therefore aim to have one cell factory in his own home and to begin testing on 15 human cases over the next 2 years, within an international multi-centre project. One goal, that of creating a mobile reproduction environment, costing 300.000 euros. To which, in part, the Maestro's concert will contribute.
