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Abstract(s)
In the last years, a rising trend of pollen allergies in urban areas
has been attributed to atmospheric pollution. In this work, we investigated the
effects of SO2 and NO2 on the protein content, allergenicity, and germination
rate of Acer negundo pollen. A novel environmental chamber was assembled to
exposure pollen samples with SO2 or NO2 at two different levels: just below
and two times the atmospheric hour-limit value acceptable for human health
protection in Europe. Results showed that protein content was lower in SO2-
exposed pollen samples and slightly higher in NO2-exposed pollen compared
to the control sample. No different polypeptide profiles were revealed by SDSPAGE
between exposed and nonexposed pollen, but the immunodetection
assays indicated higher IgE recognition by all sera of sensitized patients to Acer
negundo pollen extracts in all exposed samples in comparison to the
nonexposed samples. A decrease in the germination rate of exposed in
contrast to nonexposed pollen was verified, which was more pronounced for NO2-exposed samples. Our results indicated that in
urban areas, concentrations of SO2 and NO2 below the limits established for human protection can indirectly aggravate pollen
allergy on predisposed individuals and affect plant reproduction.
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American Chemical Society