Preliminary characterization of the histamine releasing activity of cotton dust

Evans, Elizabeth; Nicholls, P. J.

doi:10.1111/j.2042-7158.1974.tb10147.x

Cited by 17 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…Since similar results occurred for yeast and its combination with bacterium, the microphotographs are not given. In 1957, Bhujang [3] analyzed 10 Indian cottons and concluded that they did not appear to be contaminated with honeydew based on the qualitative test recommended by USDA; however, we cannot assume this is true now since infestation by aphids and white flies cannot be ruled out under present-day intensive agriculture wherein breeders are attempting to evolve varieties suiting all three growing seasons.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A New Method for Reducing the Stickiness of Cotton

Balasubramanya

Bhatawdekar

Paralikar

1985

Textile Research Journal

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Cottons contaminated with honeydew cannot be spun under normal conditions, and several methods such as washing, blending, spraying with yeast and, of late, applying a hydrocarbon and a surfactant have been used to reduce stickiness. Only the latter two methods have shown some encouraging results with few disadvantages. Spraying sticky cottons with Beijerinckia mobilis, a free living nitrogen-fixing bacterium, offers several advantages over the other methods apart from significantly reducing stickiness.The infestation of cotton plants by aphids or white flies causes the affected plant parts to secrete a sap. The tiny insects suck the sap, and the metabolic byproduct is a sticky substance called honeydew. Random deposits of this substance gain entry into the seed cotton even with careful picking after opening. They are very much localized and the intensity varies from season to season with growing conditions and maturity of cotton.Researchers have reported on the chemical composition of honeydew [4,5,8,9,13,16,22,25,28,29,32,33,36]. Usually sugars like glucose, fructose, and xylose and other carbohydrate materials like glycerol, mannitol, fumaric acid, malic acid, arabitol, mesoinositol, oleic acid, linoleic acid, etc., are present in varying amounts. Under optimum conditions, these substances may harbour saprophytic microorganisms which lower the quality of the cotton either by discoloration or by loss of strength. The presence of arabitol and mannitol in the sugary secretion might be caused by the metabolic byproduct produced by osmophilic yeasts during the catabolism of other sugars [29].Processing such cottons contaminated with honeydew under normal conditions poses many problems and is sometimes virtually impossible [27]. A number of methods such as washing, blending with good cotton, and spraying with yeast have been used to reduce stickiness. Washing distributes the sugars uniformly on the lint and favors the development of certain microorganisms under high humidity, which otherwise would not have been possible with the high concentration of the localized deposits. Cotton also becomes matted during washing and needs extensive separating, during which process there can be fiber breakage. Blending with good cotton also does not solve the problem, since the stickiness remains and may relocate during blending. Spraying with yeast is one of the ideal methods for reducing the concentration of sugars, but it leaves behind sugar alcohols such as arabitol and mannitol as metabolic byproducts on which saprophytic microorganisms may grow and reduce the quality of the lint. We have attempted to reduce stickiness by spraying Beijerinckia mobilis, a nitrogen-fixing bacterium, and the advantages of this over the reported methods are discussed. Materials and Methods SAMPLESThree varieties of cotton, 55189, and 55190 belonging to Gossypium hirsutum L. wem selected for the study. The first cotton could not be ginned, whereas the latter two were not spinnablc because of the presence of honeydew. ANALYTICAL Moisture was est...

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A New Method for Reducing the Stickiness of Cotton

Balasubramanya

Bhatawdekar

Paralikar

1985

Textile Research Journal

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“…These differences are possibly attributable in part to mechanical barriers to diffusion in lung fragments. In both the platelet and the chopped lung assays, rutin and trimethylamine, found in cotton mill dust, and a high molecular weight fraction of cotton dust extracts (Evans and Nicholls, 1974a) induced histamine release. Previous studies (Ainsworth and A platelet suspension was prepared from each pig.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Histamine release from platelets for assay of byssinogenic substances in cotton mill dust and related materials.

Ainsworth¹,

Neuman²,

Harley³

1979

Occupational and Environmental Medicine

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Previous reports suggest that byssinosis, an asthma-like condition among textile workers, may be mediated in part by histamine liberated following inhalation of dust. A simple, sensitive, and reliable procedure using pig platelets which contain the unusually high concentration of 0-8-1 6 ug histamine/109 cells has been devised for the assay of histamine-releasing factors in cotton mill dust and related materials, and has yielded results generally in accordance with earlier assays using chopped lung tissue. As little as 50-100 ,ug of total extractable substances from cotton mill dust can be measured. The activity of the extract is associated with the non-dialysable high molecular weight portion. However, conditions of acid hydrolysis do not destroy the activity. Extracts of leaves from different varieties of plant are highly potent, which suggests that the factors responsible for byssinosis are widely distributed plant components, present in textile fibre plants and converted to a respirable form by handling processes. Ellagic acid and sodium metasilicate release histamine from pig platelets, and represent new classes of compounds with possible roles in the aetiology of byssinosis.Byssinosis affects as many as a quarter of the cotton workers in the United States, and is of increasing concern to the industry (Harris et al., 1972;Bouhuys, 1974). The primary symptoms are respiratory difficulty, tightness in the chest, shortness of breath, cough, and decreased forced expiratory ventilation. The effects are most severe after absence from work (on Monday or after holidays) but gradually diminish as the work week progresses. The incidence and harshness of the attacks are related to the atmospheric concentration of respirable dust particles from the cotton materials. The disease eventually can develop into a chronic form with accompanying disablement (Harris et al., 1972;Bouhuys, 1974).Identification of the factor(s) in cotton mill dust which may be responsible for byssinosis could help to prevent or to alleviate this ailment. The nature of the symptoms and results of experimental studies suggest that induction of histamine release by cotton Requests for reprints to

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“…Acid . treatments were found to deactivate the active acomponent of cotton bracts or dust [24,29,39]. Perhaps gaseous hydrogen chloride, or acetic acid could be used to treat raw cotton.…”

Section: Water-washing the Cottonmentioning

confidence: 99%