Abstract
In this study, we focus on the investigation of the airborne behavior of respirable particulate matters containing Japanese cedar pollen allergen Cry j 1 exfoliated from the Ubisch bodies on the pollen surfaces and Cry j 2 comprised in the starch granules within the pollen. The airborne Japanese cedar pollens were counted, and at the same time, the Cry j 1 and Cry j 2 particles were collected and determined in different particle sizes at the urban site (Cooperative Research Center of Saitama University) during daily sampling periods of the most severe pollination season of FY 2005 in Saitama, Japan.
Morphological observation of Ubisch bodies exfoliated from pollen and ruptured pollens was performed with a scanning electron microscope. Moreover, the existing evidences of visualized Cry j 1 and Cry j 2 allergen particles below 1.1μm were also sensitively found by an immunofluorescence technique with a fluorescence microscope. Simultaneously, the high concentrations of Cry j 1 and/or Cry j 2 were determined in the fine particle sizes below 1.1μm. It was suggested that airborne respirable particulate matters containing Cry j 1 and Cry j 2 play a key role in the increasing incidence of asthma in the lower respiratory tract. Furthermore, although the release mechanisms of Cry j 1 and a Cry j 2 particles may be differed, the daily variation delays in the peaks of Cry j 1 (or Cry j 2) concentrations compared to the peaks of airborne pollen counts were observed since the fine particles were suspended in the atmosphere over a longer period of time after released. It is important to observe and determine the size distribution of airborne Japanese cedar pollen allergen particles in the long-term sampling research continually, and to elucidate the allergen particle release mechanisms. In the future, we should investigate the chemical, physical and biomedical combination effects on Japanese cedar pollen allergens, and have to consider proposing a new forecast informational system of the Japanese cedar pollen and their allergen particle variations.
