Abstract
EXTRACTION from ragweed pollen of a colourless, nitrogen–containing chemical believed to be one of the major causes of hay–fever was announced by Prof. Harold A. Abramson and Dr. D. H. Moore of the Columbia University School of Medicine and Dr. H. H. Gettner of Mount Sinai Hospital, at the Wilder D. Bancroft Colloid Symposium held at Cornell University under the auspices of the National Research Council and the American Chemical Society on June 20. The molecular weight of the chemical was found to be “surprisingly low—only 5,000”. This small size is significant, it appears, from the explanation that in order to produce hay–fever, pollen must not only be blown into the nose and eyes, but also the molecules causing the symptoms must pass through the mucous membranes into the deeper tissues beneath. “Our study indicates that the ease with which allergic individuals will become sensitized to the contents of pollen grains may depend to a great extent upon the small size of the allergenic molecules which have now been isolated and studied quantitatively by electrophoresis, by ultracentrifugation, and by diffusion experiments for the first time”.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
A Major Cause of Hay–fever. Nature 148, 162 (1941). https://doi.org/10.1038/148162a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/148162a0