Abstract
Cryptomeria japonica pollen is the most common pollen, which are scattering during each spring season in Japan. Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica) pollinosis is one of seasonal allergic rhinitis that mainly occurs in Japan. In addition, long range transportation of Yellow Sand from the East Asian continent was also found during the pollen scattering seasons in Japan. Therefore, the interaction or impact between pollen and Yellow Sand should be concerned. In this study, our objective was to investigate the airborne behaviour of Cryptomeria japonica pollen grains and its size-segregated allergenic (Cry j 1) particles as the airborne tracer of Cryptomeria japonica pollen during the Yellow Sand events. Airborne Cryptomeria japonica pollen grains and its size-segregated allergenic particles were collected at roadside of urban residential zones of Saitama city during the pollination periods from February to March in two year investigation of 2009 and 2010. The overlap of Yellow Sand events and dispersal peak of pollen grains was observed. According to the Meteorological data, we found that the peaks of airborne pollen grains appeared under higher wind speed and temperature than the previous day. It was thought that Yellow Sand events and airborne pollen counts were related to wind speed. From the investigation of the airborne behavior of the size-segregated allergen particles by determining Cry j 1 with Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR), the higher concentrations of the allergenic Cry j 1 were detected in particle size equal to or less than 1.1 μm(PM 1.1 ) than other particle sizes during Yellow Sand events, especially in the rainy day. We conclude that rainwater trapping Yellow Sand is one of the important factors that affect the release of allergenic pollen species of Cry j 1. Therefore, it is very important to clarify the relationships between Cryptomeria japonica pollen allergenic species and chemical contents of the Yellow Sand particles in further studies.
Highlights
Allergic rhinitis is increasing day by day both in prevalence and severity in most of the countries which is affecting 25% of the population worldwide
We focused on the airborne tracer of Cryptomeria japonica pollen grains and its size-segregated allergenic particles located to the Cryptomeria japonica pollen surface during the Yellow Sand events within the pollen scattering seasons in 2009 and 2010
We focused on the airborne allergenic Cry j 1 as the tracer of Cryptomeria japonica pollen allergen particles during the Yellow Sand events within pollen scattering seasons in 2009 and 2010
Summary
Allergic rhinitis is increasing day by day both in prevalence and severity in most of the countries which is affecting 25% of the population worldwide. Pollen is the most important reported cause of seasonal allergic rhinitis (Zhang et al, 2012). In Japan, main seasonal allergic rhinitis is Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica) pollinosis, which has been increased during the past decades. In 2008, the average prevalence of Japanese cedar pollinosis is 26.5% in Japan, there are great regional differences in the prevalence of this disease (Murayama et al, 2010). Cryptomeria japonica forests cover nearly 18% of the total land area of Japan, concentrated in the Kanto region and western part of the country (Yonekura et al, 2012).
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