Variations in airborne pollen antigenic particles caused by meteorologic factors

Abstract

High birch pollen antigenic activities in outdoor air samples were found in all particle sizes studied (> 7.2, 2.4-7.2, < 2.4 microns and molecular size class, with an ELISA modification). Sampling was done with a low-volume, size-selective bioaerosol sampler (SSBAS) simulating the human respiratory tract in both volume and fractionation. Airborne birch pollen counts for comparisons were obtained from a Burkard trap. No correlations were obtained between antigen concentrations in any particle size fraction and airborne pollen counts. The meteorologic factors studied differed clearly in their effect on antigenicity, depending on the size class studied. Likewise, the effect of meteorologic factors differed among the three study periods (period I, 4 weeks before the peak pollen season; period II, during the season; and period III, 4 weeks after the season). During the peak pollen period, temperature and relative humidity were the most important meteorologic factors. Before the season, large and very small particles predominated, medium-sized particles being totally absent. The largest size class studied (containing all intact pollen grains) clearly reacted to changes in meteorologic factors; for smaller size classes, these factors were found to be less important, a fact which may make the forecasting of antigen concentrations in the air on the basis of meteorologic data impossible.

Release of Bet v 1 from birch pollen from 5 European countries. Results from the HIALINE study

“…However, when comparing the 10% lowest allergen release values per pollen with the 10% highest values, the daily allergen release difference across Europe and also within each country was >10-fold. Several other authors also report differences in allergen release per pollen for birch and olive pollen (Pehkonen and Rantio-Lehtimäki, 1994;Schäppi et al, 1997a;De Linares et al, 2007;Buters et al, 2010;Brito et al, 2011). This study shows that the variation in allergen release per pollen is substantial but equally distributed across the European birch tree habitat.…”

Sensitivity of IgG-ELISA for Detecting Airborne Pollen Antigens of Betulaceae

“…In 1993 the situation was very similar, hazel pollen was detected only on two days, April 1 and 14 (yearly total 17 p.g. n1-3) (Finnish Pollen Bulletin 1993, 1994. Our results show that birch pollen antigenic activity was detected in every stage during the flowering of the alder (Fig.…”

“…All samples were analysed by IgG-ELISA procedure (detailed description in Rantio-Lehtimlki et al 1994 andPehkonen &Rantio-Lehtimaki 1991). The bound pollen antigens were detected with rabbit IgG against birch pollen (ALK A/S, Copenhagen, dilution of 1 : 1000 PBS pH 7.4 with 0.5% BSA (bovine serum albumine) and 0.5% Tween 20) and these antibodies again with HRP (horseradish peroxidase)-conjugated swine antibodies against rabbit-IgG (DAKO A/S, Copenhagen)…”

“…Several studies on airborne pollen antigens have been performed using various immunochemical methods, such as IgG-subclass RAST-inhibition (Jensen et al 1989), IgE-RAST (Spieksma et al 1990) and IgG-ELISA (Pehkonen & Rantio-Lehtimiiki 1994, Rantio-Lehtimaki et al 1994. The specificity of these methods has not been investigated in detail.…”

Pollens, pollinoses et météorologie

“…On remarquera toutefois qu'en l'état présent de nos connaissances, des particules aussi fines semblent relativement peu influencées par l'état de l'atmosphère. Il s'ensuit que des modèles de prévision des concentrations en allergènes polliniques en fonction des facteurs météorolo-giques ne sont actuellement envisageables que pour les particules de plus grande taille, c'est-à-dire les grains de pollen entiers (Pehkonen et Rantio-Lehtimäki, 1994). De plus, la détection et le dénombrement des allergènes dans l'air récla-ment un appareillage sophistiqué et coûteux, si bien qu'une telle recherche ne saurait être réalisée en routine avant de longues années.…”