Annals of Occupational Hygiene Advance Access originally published online on October 17, 2008
Annals of Occupational Hygiene 2008 52(8):727-737; doi:10.1093/annhyg/men061
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Physical and Biochemical Properties of Airborne Flour Particles Involved in Occupational Asthma
1 UMR206 de chimie biologique, AgroParisTech, INRA, 78850 Thiverval-Grignon, France
2 INRS, Laboratoire de métrologie des aérosols, BP 57, 54501 Vandoeuvre cedex, France
3 CRAMIF, Direction régionale des risques professionnels, 17–19, rue de Flandre, 75019 Paris, France
4 Groupe hospitalier Cochin, AP-HP, Service de pathologie professionnelle, Université Paris Descartes, 27 rue du Faubourg Saint-Jacques, 75014 Paris, France
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel: +33-01-30-81-54-66; fax: +33-01-30-81-53-73; e-mail: michel.lauriere{at}grignon.inra.fr
Aerosol particles which deeply penetrate the human airways and which trigger baker's asthma manifestations are known to represent only a part of flour and of airborne particles found in bakeries. They were a major focus of this study. To this end, aerosols were produced from different wheat and rye flours, using an automatic generator designed for bronchial challenge. Particles were characterized for their size distribution, their ability to be deposited in the airways, their protein content, their histological composition and their reactivity with immunoglobulin E (IgE) present in sera from asthmatic bakers. Like dust particles collected in the bakery, the aerosols produced showed increased protein content but decreased IgE reactive protein content when compared to the corresponding bulk flours. The sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis analysis of these particles showed a predominance of endosperm gluten proteins. Under scanning electron microscopy, flour particles displayed various tissue fragments with entrapped large A-starch and small B- or C-starch granules, whereas aerosol particles appeared primarily as a mixture of the endosperm intracellular interstitial protein matrix and small B- or C-starch granules free or still associated. These observations showed that aerosols supposed to penetrate deeply the airways, mainly correspond to intracellular fragments of endosperm cells enriched in gluten proteins but with lower amount of allergens belonging to albumins or globulins.
Keywords: aerosols • cereal flours • flour dust • inhaled particles • occupational asthma • rhinitis • Secale cereale • Triticum aestivum
Jean-François Fabriès passed away in April 2006 working on this project. Received March 6, 2008; in final form September 5, 2008
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