Context
The information provided by pollen grains and spores counts cannot be ignored by allergists and allergic individuals but there is sometimes a divergence observed with clinical observations. It has led to measure directly airborne allergens during pollen season to determine a rate of allergenicity in the air.
In this study, the birch pollen, which is a major pollen across the Europe, was monitored during the birch pollen season 2008 (April) in Munich. Sampling birch pollen with Coriolis® operated with a “dry cone” (no collection liquid) and measuring the extracted allergen Bet v1 with ELISA assay were carried out.
Materials
- Coriolis air sampler
- Coriolis plastic cones
- Burkard pollen trap (moving adhesive band)
- Monoclonal Bet v 1 specific antibodies assay
Protocol
- Bet v1 quantification
6h daily sampling with Coriolis; 200L/min; allergen extraction with NH4HCO3 pH8.1 + 0.1% BSA; centrifugation; sub-division of supernatant and storage at -80°C, immuno-assay. - Bet v1 quantification
6h daily sampling with Coriolis; 200L/min; allergen extraction with NH4HCO3 pH8.1 + 0.1% BSA; centrifugation; sub-division of supernatant and storage at -80°C, immuno-assay.
Results
Similar temporal evolution is observed between Bet v1 allergens concentration and birch pollen count: high levels of Bet v1 sampled with Coriolis were found on all days with high pollen flight, low levels of allergen on all days with low pollen count.
Customer
