Abstract
This paper reports on the absorption of environmental pollutants into various airborne pollen grains, aggravation of allergenicity, damage to the pollen cell walls, and the airborne behavior of fine allergenic particles, especially those released from Cryptomeria japonica (Japanese cedar) pollen, as abundantly determined on sunny days following rainfall.
From the result of rainfall sampling and analysis, it was indicated that a great number of pollens were trapped in initial precipitation. At the same time, many burst pollen grains were also observed in the rainwater. Thus, it was possible that fine allergenic particles such as fractions of cell wall and contents of pollen were released from the bursting of pollen grains. On the other hand, elution of allergenic contents was increased when contacted with a weakly basic solution containing Ca2＋ ions. Therefore, we think that one important factor contributing to the small-sized allergenic particles was induced by contact with rainfall after long-range transportation events of Asian dust.
We succeeded for the first time in detecting fine allergenic contents containing 3-nitrotyrosine in urban atmosphere and clarified that 3-nitrotyrosine induces HeLa cell apoptosis. We summarized the various studies to elucidate the scattering behavior of various pollens, focusing on Cryptomeria japonica pollen and its allergenic particles in the urban atmosphere. This study has the potential for future developments in palynology.
