[The rupture of cedar pollens in nasal secretions]

Allergic rhinitis caused by pollen of Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica) is found in Japan. These pollens, when inhaled into the nasal cavity, contact the nasal mucus membrane, and the allergens separate from the pollens, and pass through the nasal mucosa to interact with the mast cell-bound IgE. Patients with allergic rhinitis produce a great volume of nasal secretion from the mucosa. The morphological transformation of the cedar pollens when mixed with nasal secretion was studied. Nasal secretion was collected from two patients with allergic rhinitis. Cedar pollen gathered from a Japanese cedar tree was mixed with distilled water, and the cedar pollen suspension was mixed with a drop of nasal secretion on a slide glass at the room temperature (23 degrees C), and examined by phase-contrast microscopy. Of the pollen 20.6% were ruptured after 3 min, and 52.9% after 10 min, 84.9% after 40 min, and 81.3% after 60 min respectively. Further changes in shape of the ruptured pollens were observed with continued incubation. A hole opened in the cytoplasmic membrane through which the nucleus escaped, and crinkling of the residual cytoplasmic membrane was observed. The escaped nucleus separated into many small granules. In order to determine possible causes of the pollen rupture in nasal secretion, the relationship between pH of the nasal secretion and rupture rate was examined. The pH of the nasal secretion from two patients was 8.95 and 9.15 respectively. Salt solutions of 0.1 M NaCl, (NH4) 2SO4, NaNO3, CaCl2, Na2SO4, KCl, MgSO4, had pH range from 5.13 to 6.40.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)