RESEARCH ARTICLE Characterizing Aeroallergens by Infrared Spectroscopy of Fungal Spores and Pollen

Background Fungal spores and plant pollen cause respiratory diseases in susceptible individuals, such as asthma, allergic rhinitis and hypersensitivity pneumonitis. Aeroallergen monitoring net-works are an important part of treatment strategies, but unfortunately traditional analysis is time consuming and expensive. We have explored the use of infrared spectroscopy of pol-len and spores for an inexpensive and rapid characterization of aeroallergens. Methodology The study is based on measurement of spore and pollen samples by single reflectance at-tenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (SR-ATR FTIR). The ex-perimental set includes 71 spore (Basidiomycota) and 121 pollen (Pinales, Fagales and Poales) samples. Along with fresh basidiospores, the study has been conducted on the ar-chived samples collected within the last 50 years. Results The spectroscopic-based methodology enables clear spectral differentiation between pol