Comparison of Alternaria tenuis extracts prepared from different raw materials.

Alternaria extracts, prepared from three different sources under the same conditions, were compared by several biochemical/immunochemical methods. Two raw materials (A,G) contained mostly mycelia. The third raw material (C) contained mycelia (35%) and spores (65%). Extracts A and G were different in total allergenic potency, antigen/allergen pattern, and in the Alt 1 content. Extract C was of similar total allergenic potency as extract A but showed a somewhat different antigen/allergen pattern and a different Alt 1 content. Although there were some compositional differences among the extracts, all extracts regardless of source materials (spores and mycelia) demonstrated strong RAST inhibition activity and parallelism of the inhibition curves.

Allergenic activity of short ragweed pollen (Ambrosia elatior) from different years and/or suppliers: criteria for the selection of an in-house allergen reference preparation.

We have investigated dialyzed extracts (A-F) of short ragweed pollens (Ambrosia elatior) from six consecutive production years and four different companies by protein nitrogen units, high performance liquid chromatography, isoelectric focusing, SDS-PAGE, RAST inhibition, crossed radioimmunoelectrophoresis, and antigen E contents. Extract A showed lowest yields in all quantitative assays. Isoelectric focusing, SDS-PAGE, crossed immunoelectrophoresis, and crossed radioimmunoelectrophoresis showed comparable patterns for all extracts except for extract A. Apparently, the activity of short ragweed pollens depends on the year of production and/or the skill of the producer. These findings are in contrast to similar examinations of other pollen species.

Quality of timothy pollen (Phleum pratense) from different pollen seasons and different suppliers.

We investigated seven batches of timothy (Phleum pratense) pollen from four different pollen seasons and three different manufacturers in the USA and Europe by several biochemical and immunochemical methods. By measuring the contents of hexoses, proteins and the total allergenic activity using RAST inhibition we could not find any significant differences in quality between pollen of different seasons, different geographical origin and different manufacturers. There were only slight differences in the staining of some protein bands and in peak height of some antigens in isoelectric focusing (IEF), SDS-PAGE and crossed immunoelectrophoresis. These differences in IEF and SDS-PAGE patterns seem to be specific for the pollen samples from the USA and Europe, respectively. We also observed minor differences in IEF immunoprint patterns, mainly for some basic proteins. The allergen patterns in crossed radioimmunoelectrophoresis were very similar, with only minor differences in concentration of the basic allergens. It appears that timothy pollen from different years can be produced in different geographical areas by different manufacturers with fairly constant allergenic activity.