quantification of pla or 3, a platanus orientalis allergen, grown under different environmental conditions, by sandwich elisa

background: platanus species are widely cultured around the world and considered an important cause of allergic reactions. in the present study, we developed a sandwich elisa to quantify pla or 3 allergen in p. orientalis pollen extracts grown near high-traffic roads and compared it to pollen extracts collected from rural areas as control. methods: pollen samples were collected from three polluted and two unpolluted sites in mashhad, northeast iran. recombinant pla or 3 was expressed and used for polyclonal antibody production in rabbit. a sandwich elisa was developed and validated to quantify pla or 3 levels in pollen extracts from the different sites. results: the coefficients of variation (cvs) for the intra- and inter- day assays were less than 5 and 18%, respectively. the working range of the standard curve was between 0.1 and 25 ng/ml, with the detection limit being 0.037 ng/ml. the recovery percentage was 88-106.4% at working concentrations from 0.31 to 26.5 ng/ml. pla or 3 levels were significantly greater in pollens grown near high-traffic roads than in those grown in rural regions (p < 0.0001). conclusions: a sandwich elisa was developed and validated to quantify pla or 3 in pollen extracts. using this validated elisa, we showed a substantial difference between the amounts of pla or 3 in pollens grown in different environments. this finding should be considered in developing public policies to reduce traffic pollution, which leads to reduced allergic reactions in atopic subjects.