Source of Symbols Inspiration in Tahereh Safarzadeh’s Poetry

Symbolism was initiated by Nima Yushij, a contemporary poet. Symbolism sought to express the social and political problems of its age. Many poets were affected by his movement and Safarzadeh was not an exception. Her poems are a reflection of her age, and as the socio-political circumstances were not right to express one’s ideas openly, she resorted to symbolism. Accordingly, the present research aims at analyzing the function of symbolism in Safarzadeh’s poetic style. The findings indicate that symbols are closely interwoven with her own religious, social, and political experiences. Colors, nature, and national and religious myths connote many other ideas and themes and thereby the audience faces a multilayer of meanings

Biodegradable nanoparticles composed of dendrigraft poly-l-lysine for gene delivery

We developed novel gene vectors composed of dendrigraft poly-l-lysine (DGL). The transgene expression efficiency of the pDNA/DGL complexes (DGL complexes) was markedly higher than that of the control pDNA/poly-l-lysine complex. However, the DGL complexes caused cytotoxicity and erythrocyte agglutination at high doses. Therefore, γ-polyglutamic acid (γ-PGA), which is a biodegradable anionic polymer, was added to the DGL complexes to decrease their toxicity. The resultant ternary complexes (DGL/γ-PGA complexes) were shown to be stable nanoparticles, and those with γ-PGA to pDNA charge ratios of >8 had anionic surface charges. The transgene expression efficiency of the DGL/γ-PGA complexes was similar to that of the DGL complexes; however, they exhibited lower cytotoxicity and did not induce erythrocyte agglutination at high doses. After being intravenously administered to mice, the DGL6 complex demonstrated high transfection efficiency in the liver, lungs, and spleen, whereas the DGL6/γ-PGA8 complex only displayed high transfection efficiency in the spleen. Future studies should examine the utility of DGL and DGL/γ-PGA complexes for clinical gene therapy