Allergy to basidiospores: immunologic studies.

Fruiting bodies of larger basidiomycetous fungi were collected over a 15 month period from natural habitats and a total of 67 different antigenic extracts were prepared from spores or tissue, in buffered saline, pH8, and standardised at 1:50 and 1:10 (W/V) concentrations. A number of heterogeneous and diagnosed allergic patients were tested by skin prick test method with the extracts of either individual species or mixtures of related species. Up to 22% patients reacted positively, indicating their possible IgE mediated reactions and the allergenic potency of the species involved. The potential allergenicity of many of these genera and/or species has not been reported previously. The findings suggest that basidiospores could be a possible major factor for the high respiratory allergy incidence in the Auckland region and necessitate further investigation.

The basidiomycete ganoderma and asthma: collection, quantitation and immunogenicity of the spores.

Ganoderma fungal spores are a major component of the Auckland air-spora. Previous studies of ganoderma involvement in allergic asthma and rhinitis were extended by locating the sporophores (fruiting bodies) in the Auckland area and systematically collecting the ejected spores. Maximum production by one sporophore was 5 gram dry weight of spores in one week, equivalent to 11 billion spores. We have estimated that between 400 and 1200 sporophores would account for previously reported levels of ganoderma spores collected from the air by Burkhard spore traps. Both whole spores and extracts of spores were strongly immunogenic in rabbits. Of the 115 asthma patients who were skin prick tested with a variety of fungal extracts, 32 (28%) were positive to one or more fungi. Of these, 18 (16%) reacted positively to ganoderma extracts. A theory proposing how ganoderma might contribute to allergic hyperreactivity in susceptible patients is developed.