الفهرس 
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Abstract
Pollen allergy has a remarkable clinical impact all over the world and there is a body of evidence suggesting that the prevalence of respiratory allergic reactions induced by pollen has been on increase in the past decades. In Egypt, more than 35% of the human population is known to suffer from major allergic disorders. The allergy symptoms result from immunological responses of the sensitized individuals, following natural exposure to pollen. Nearly 10% of the flowering plants shed wind dispersed pollen that act as allergens.
It has been increasingly realized that the solution of the problem lies in critical investigation of chemical and biological nature of aeroallergens in different parts of the country and integration of this knowledge with afforestation, social forestry and urban plantation programmes. Three approaches have been suggested to prevent and control allergic disorders: (1) allergen avoidance; (2) medication to suppress symptoms; and (3) allergen-specific immunotherapy. To put these strategies to work, aerobiological and clinico-immunological studies on pollen allergens of different geographical regions is of paramount importance.
The present work on the “Aerobiological and clinical study on pollen allergens of Egypt cities was undertaken with the objectives:
1- To assess the qualitative and quantitative composition of atmospheric pollen load,
2- To correlate the presence of airborne pollen with different parameters among the two sites,
3- To carry out based study on patients of respiratory allergy,
4- To study the allergenicity of pollen types encountered during the survey period by LM, SEM and in vivo diagnostic tests.
To assess the kinds and numbers of pollen types and the magnitude of variations (short term and long term) in the atmospheric load of pollen at lower height within human settlements, atmospheric surveys were conducted at two different sites in Egypt. Sampling of the airborne pollen was carried out for three consecutive years (July 2018 - June 2021).
The presence of pollen in the atmosphere is strongly influenced by
meteorological factors. In the present work, a highly significant positive correlation was observed between total pollen catch and maximum and minimum temperature. This can be explained by the fact that higher temperature dehydrates the anthers and cause them to burst and release pollen into the air. However, rainfall, wind speed and relative humidity exhibited a non-significant negative correlation with total pollen concentration.
Furthermore this study provides details of allergenic pollen in Bright Field microscopy and presented the detailed focal series of some of the important pollen to express their morphological diversity at various angles and to avoid confusion of identification. As we keep on changing focus of pollen under Bright field, pollen changes its shape at different axis those images are sometime confusing especially in a condition when these pollen allergy causing pollen are counted in aerobiological samples over tapes (pollen stick over the tapes, wrapped over drums in pollen trap) for determining pollen concentration in air. Pollen focal series gives the clear picture of changing morphology of same pollen to establish reference content.
Field emission scanning electron microscopy has given detailed images of allergenic and pollen. Detailed morphology and sculpturing has been focused and identification features have been highlighted to establish identification key.
Regarding the immunochemical characterization of pollen grains, the protein profile of the extracts showed bands between 75 and 10 kDa. In all two sites extracts, there were three marked notable bands zone, one band around 37 kDa, one at 50 kDa and another at 75 kDa. In samples 1 and 2, bands also appeared between 25 and 75 kDa, between 25 and 37 kDa.
Regarding the protein extracts against the sera of allergic patients, it was performed with the sera of patients that showing markedly positive allergic reactions to any of the total antigenic extracts of all pollen antigen samples. Pollen saline protein extracts probed against the sera of seven allergic patients, polysensitized to wx1, showed immunolabelling of various IgE binding bands with different densitometric values.
All patients’ sera analyzed presented reactivity to two bands with molecular weight around 74 and 51 kDa, in both site I and Site II pollen extracts. Also, a band with molecular weight of about 40 kDa was present in five of the tested patient sera (B, C, D, F, and G). Below 15 kDa, we observed reactive bands in two patients’ sera (D and E). Three patient’s serum presented reactivity to a protein band of molecular weight around 27 kDa (A, E, and F)