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Physical and Biochemical Properties of Airborne Flour Particles Involved in Occupational Asthma
- Source :
- The Annals of Occupational Hygiene.
- Publication Year :
- 2008
- Publisher :
- Oxford University Press (OUP), 2008.
-
Abstract
- Aerosol particles which deeply penetrate the human airways and which trigger baker's asthma manifestations are known to represent only a part of flour and of airborne particles found in bakeries. They were a major focus of this study. To this end, aerosols were produced from different wheat and rye flours, using an automatic generator designed for bronchial challenge. Particles were characterized for their size distribution, their ability to be deposited in the airways, their protein content, their histological composition and their reactivity with immunoglobulin E (IgE) present in sera from asthmatic bakers. Like dust particles collected in the bakery, the aerosols produced showed increased protein content but decreased IgE reactive protein content when compared to the corresponding bulk flours. The sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis analysis of these particles showed a predominance of endosperm gluten proteins. Under scanning electron microscopy, flour particles displayed various tissue fragments with entrapped large A-starch and small B- or C-starch granules, whereas aerosol particles appeared primarily as a mixture of the endosperm intracellular interstitial protein matrix and small B- or C-starch granules free or still associated. These observations showed that aerosols supposed to penetrate deeply the airways, mainly correspond to intracellular fragments of endosperm cells enriched in gluten proteins but with lower amount of allergens belonging to albumins or globulins.
- Subjects :
- Adult
Male
Occupational Medicine
Globulin
Starch
Sodium
Flour
chemistry.chemical_element
Air Pollutants, Occupational
Immunoglobulin E
Endosperm
chemistry.chemical_compound
Food Industry
Humans
Food science
Particle Size
Triticum
Aerosols
Gel electrophoresis
biology
Secale
Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
food and beverages
General Medicine
respiratory system
Asthma
Aerosol
Occupational Diseases
chemistry
Immunology
Microscopy, Electron, Scanning
biology.protein
Particle size
Environmental Monitoring
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 14753162
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- The Annals of Occupational Hygiene
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....b12fd0192d2d14dc80258d00da1f00d8