1991 Volume 41 Issue 1 Pages 51-64
Sericultural asthma is an occupational disease caused by inhalation of the body components of silkworm ; cocoon chrysalis, moth scales, dried ripe larva urine and sericin. It has already been reported that the main allergic components of sericultural asthma are found in cocoon chrysalis.
I performed partial purification and characterization of cocoon chrysalis antigens. The results were as follows :
1) Two main antigenic fractions, FIV-1 and FIV-2, were obtained from cocoon chrysalis by gel filtration and ion exchange chromatography.
2) FIV-1 was 5.32-fold higher in allergenicity than crude extract.
3) The molecular weight of FIV-1 was 80, 000 while that of FIV-2 was 48, 000.
4) FIV-1 was composed of sixteen amino acids, but contained no tryptophan or half-cystine. The ratio between basic and acidic amino acids was 1 : 1.9. FIV-2 was similar in amino acid composition to FIV-1 and contained no half-cystine. The ratio was 1 : 2.1.
