RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article
T1 Identifying key environmental factors to model Alt a 1 airborne allergen presence and variation
A1 Rodríguez Fernández, Alberto
A1 Aloisi, Iris
A1 Blanco Alegre, Carlos del
A1 Vega Maray, Ana María
A1 Valencia Barrera, Rosa María
A1 Suanno, Chiara
A1 Calvo Gordaliza, Ana Isabel
A1 Fraile Laiz, Roberto
A1 Fernández González, María Delia
A2 Botanica
K1 Botánica
K1 Aeroallergen
K1 Alt a 1
K1 Alternaria
K1 ELISA
K1 Meteorological factors
K1 Spores
K1 2417 Biología Vegetal (Botánica)
AB [EN] Fungal spores, commonly found in the atmosphere, can trigger important respiratory disorders. The glycoprotein Alt a 1 is the major allergen present in conidia of the genus Alternaria and has a high clinical relevance for people sensitized to fungi. Exposure to this allergen has been traditionally assessed by aerobiological spore counts, although this does not always offer an accurate estimate of airborne allergen load. This study aims to pinpoint the key factors that explain the presence and variation of Alt a 1 concentration in the atmosphere in order to establish exposure risk periods and improve forecasting models. Alternaria spores were sampled using a Hirst-type volumetric sampler over a five-year period. The allergenic fraction from the bioaerosol was collected using a low-volume cyclone sampler and Alt a 1 quantified by Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay. A cluster analysis was executed in order to group days with similar environmental features and then analyze days with the presence of the allergen in each of them. Subsequently, a quadratic discriminant analysis was performed to evaluate if the selected variables can predict days with high Alt a 1 load. The results indicate that higher temperatures and absolute humidity favor the presence of Alt a 1 in the atmosphere, while time of precipitation is related to days without allergen. Moreover, using the selected parameters, the quadratic discriminant analysis to predict days with allergen showed an accuracy rate between 67 % and 85 %. The mismatch between daily airborne concentration of Alternaria spores and allergen load can be explained by the greater contribution of medium-to-long distance transport of the allergen from the major emission sources as compared with spores. Results highlight the importance of conducting aeroallergen quantification studies together with spore counts to improve the forecasting models of allergy risk, especially for fungal spores.
PB Elsevier
SN 0048-9697
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10612/18120
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10612/18120
NO Rodríguez-Fernández, A., Aloisi, I., Blanco-Alegre, C., Vega-Maray, A. M., Valencia-Barrera, R. M., Suanno, C., Calvo, A. I., Fraile, R., Fernández-González, D. (2024). Identifying key environmental factors to model Alt a 1 airborne allergen presence and variation. Science of The Total Environment. 917.170597. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.SCITOTENV.2024.170597
DS BULERIA. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de León
RD 03-jun-2024