BACKGROUND The so-called "thunderstorm asthma" (TA) is an uncommon but dramatic outbreak of asthma attacks occurring during a thunderstorm in the pollen and molds season. Mechanisms which make the pollen able to enter the deeper airways and provoke severe asthma symptoms are still unclear. OBJECTIVE To test the hypothesis that sub pollen particles (SPPs) originated from the rupture by an osmotic shock of pollen associated with TA contain allergens METHODS: After hydration, SPPs released from pollen grains of grass, pellitory, olive, cypress, ragweed and birch were isolated and determined by microscopy. Allergens were determined by in vitro ELISA inhibition tests indirectly using the sera from 10 polyreactive patients. An inhibition < 50% was considered as negative, 50-75% moderate, > 75% complete. RESULTS The inhibition experiments showed that the SPPs from birch and cypress were unable to inhibit serum IgE reactivity to Bet v 1 and Cup a 1, respectively. Ragweed SPPs inhibited ragweed pollen extract and Amb a 1 by 75.8±0.11% and 81.2±0.15% respectively. Olive and pellitory SPPs retained almost the whole IgE binding capability in all cases tested. Grass SPPs inhibited 32±0.06% of Lolium perenne Lol p 1 and 65% of Phleum pratense extracts, but results were highly variable for individual allergens (97.5-.03% for Phl p 2, 45.3±0.12% for Phl p 5, 24.7±0.22% for Phl p 6, and 38.3±0.2% for Phl p 1). CONCLUSIONS Inhibition experiments confirm the hypothesis that SSPs obtained after the osmotic shock of pollen involved in TA, namely grass, pellitory and olive tree pollen, contain allergens and therefore they can induce severe asthma attacks during thunderstorms.

中文翻译：

---

通过渗透压休克获得的不同来源的亚花粉颗粒成分水平的过敏性：雷暴相关哮喘爆发的分子方法

背景技术所谓的“雷暴哮喘”(TA)是在花粉和霉菌季节的雷暴期间发生的一种罕见但剧烈的哮喘发作爆发。使花粉能够进入更深的气道并引发严重哮喘症状的机制仍不清楚。目的验证亚花粉颗粒（SPPs）源于与 TA 相关的花粉渗透休克破裂的假设，其中含有过敏原。通过显微镜分离和确定。过敏原是通过体外 ELISA 抑制试验间接使用来自 10 名多反应患者的血清来确定的。< 50% 的抑制被认为是负面的，50-75% 中等，> 75% 完全。结果抑制实验表明，桦树和柏树的SPPs不能分别抑制血清IgE对Bet v 1和Cup a 1的反应。豚草 SPP 对豚草花粉提取物和 Amb a 1 的抑制作用分别为 75.8±0.11% 和 81.2±0.15%。在所有测试的情况下，橄榄和椭圆 SPP 几乎保留了全部 IgE 结合能力。草 SPP 抑制 32±0.06% 的黑麦草 Lol p 1 和 65% 的草本植物提取物，但结果对于个别过敏原差异很大（Phl p 2 为 97.5-0.03%，Phl p 5 为 45.3±0.12%，24.7第 6 页为 ±0.22%，第 1 页为 38.3±0.2%。结