Although striatal delivery of three critical genes for dopamine synthesis by viruses is a potential clinical approach for treating Parkinson’s disease (PD), the approach makes it difficult to finely control dopamine secretion amounts and brings safety concerns. Here, we generate genetically engineered mesenchymal stem cells encoding three critical genes for dopamine synthesis (DOPA-MSCs). DOPA-MSCs retain their MSC identity and stable ability to secrete dopamine during passaging. Following transplantation, DOPA-MSCs reinstate striatal dopamine levels and correct motor function in PD rats. Importantly, after grafting into the caudate and putamen, DOPA-MSCs provide homotopic reconstruction of midbrain dopamine pathways by restoring striatal dopamine levels, and safely and long-term (up to 51 months) correct motor disorders and nonmotor deficits in acute and chronic PD rhesus monkey models of PD even with advanced PD symptoms. The long-term benefits and safety results support the idea that the development of dopamine-synthesized engineered cell transplantation is an important strategy for treating PD.

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The modified Siemens process is the primary technology of polycrystalline production at present. The Siemens reactor, which is the main equipment in the modified Siemens process, consists of a chamber where several high purity silicon slim rods are heated by an electric current flowing through them. The temperature on the rod centre must be under melting temperature of silicon (1687K) in order to avoid its breaking-down because of an uneven temperature profile of the silicon rod. Therefore the temperature profile of the silicon rod heated by direct current (DC) has been investigated by molding. The current density profile of silicon rod has also been studied to investigate the interaction of current density and temperature. The results show that the temperature is not homogeneous in the rod and the temperature in the center of the polysilicon rod is 1750K which is much higher than the melting temperature (1687K) when the temperature is 1423K on the surface of polysilicon and the radius of rod is 5cm. Therefore, the maximum growth radius of the polysilicon rod in Siemens reactor should be less than 5cm when the joule heating generated by DC. The current density increases from the center to the surface of the polysilicon rod.

No abstract