Pollen allergy risk is modified by air pollutants, including ozone, but the chemical modifications induced on pollen grains are poorly understood. Pollen lipidic extract has been shown to act as an adjuvant to the allergenic reaction and therefore, the modification of lipids by air pollutants could have health implications. Birch pollen was exposed in vitro to ozone to explore the reactivity of O₃ on its surface and on its lipidic fraction. Uptake coefficients of ozone were determined for ozone concentration of 117 ppb on the surface of native birch pollen (8.6 ± 0.8 × 10⁻⁶), defatted pollen (9.9 ± 0.9 × 10⁻⁶), and for crushed pollen grains (34±3 × 10⁻⁶). The mass of ozone uptaken was increased by a factor of four for crushed pollen compared to native pollen showing a higher susceptibility to ozone of cytoplasmic granules and broken pollen grains. The mass of extractible lipids for birch pollen was determined to 27 mg per gram of pollen and a fraction of these lipids was identified and quantified (fatty acids, alkanes, alkenes and aldehydes). The distribution of lipids was modified by ozone exposure of 115 and 1000 ppb for 16 h with the following reactivity: consumption of alkene, formation of aldehydes and formation of nonanoic acid and octadecanoic acid. The quantity of ozone trapped in the lipidic fraction during 15 min at 115 ppb is enough to contribute to the reactivity of one-third of the alkenes demonstrating that pollen could be susceptible to an atmospheric increase of ozone concentration even for a very short duration complicating the understanding of the link between pollen allergy and pollution.

花粉过敏风险被包括臭氧在内的空气污染物所改变，但是人们对花粉颗粒所引起的化学变化知之甚少。花粉脂质提取物已显示出可作为变应原反应的佐剂，因此，空气污染物对脂质的修饰可能会对健康产生影响。桦树花粉在体外暴露于臭氧中，以探索O ₃在其表面和脂质部分的反应性。测定天然桦树花粉表面上的臭氧浓度为117 ppb（8.6±0.8×10 ^-6），脱脂花粉（9.9±0.9×10 ^-6）和碎花粉颗粒（34±3）时的臭氧吸收系数×10 ^-6）。与天然花粉相比，压碎的花粉吸收的臭氧量增加了四倍，这表明细胞质颗粒和破碎的花粉颗粒对臭氧的敏感性更高。桦木花粉的可提取脂质的质量确定为27克/克花粉，并鉴定和定量了这些脂质的一部分（脂肪酸，烷烃，烯烃和醛）。通过在115和1000 ppb的臭氧下暴露16小时，具有以下反应性来改变脂质的分布：烯烃的消耗，醛的形成以及壬酸和十八烷酸的形成。