AAAR 32nd Annual Conference
September 30 - October 4, 2013
Oregon Convention Center
Portland, Oregon, USA
Abstract View
Rapid Allergen Reduction By Atmospheric Cold Plasma
Yan Wu, Yongdong Liang, MAOSHENG YAO, Jue Zhang, Peking University
Abstract Number: 628 Working Group: Indoor Aerosols
Abstract Allergy has become a global problem, and effective control is greatly needed. In this work, we investigated the use of atmospheric cold plasma in controlling allergens. Both aerosolized and water-borne allergens including Der p 1, Der f 1, Asp f 1, Alt a 1, and Can f 1 were exposed to the plasma generated. As a comparison, allergen exposure to the heat up to 100 oC and ultraviolet irradiation for various times were also conducted. Besides, airborne allergens (Der p 1, Der f 1, Alt a 1 and Asp f 1) from both indoor and outdoor environments were also subjected to the plasma treatment. To further confirm the effectiveness of the treatment, the allergenicity of the plasma treated allergen (Asp f 1) was compared against those without the treatment using blood sera from the allergen sensitized subjects.
Results revealed that atmospheric cold plasma is effective in reducing the allergenicity of lab-prepared and natural allergens. The reductions were shown to range from 30% for Der p 1 to 80% for Can f 1 allergen when exposed to the plasma for 0.12 s. Water-borne exposure experiments also revealed the dependence of allergenicity reduction on exposure time. In clear contrast, traditional methods such as heating and ultraviolet irradiation had little effect on the Can f 1 allergens even with extended exposure up to 30 mins. Allergnicity tests with control and plasma treated allergen (Asp f 1) using ELISA showed that treated allergens caused less binding with IgE sensitized to Asp f 1 compared to the control ones. The results here demonstrated a viable method for effectively controlling fungal and mite allergens, and commercialization of this technology would land a great hand in the combat with allergic diseases.