Toxicological and hygienic assessment of allergenic activity and hazards caused by dry yeast fungi

This research significance was determined by the fact that health disorders, mostly allergenic ones and immune pathologies, prevailed among workers exposed to native yeast fungi of Saccharomyces cerevisiae L153 strain and dry bakery yeast. We observed apparent shifts and imbalance between humoral and cellular immune system parameters and detected allergenic responses in a body which had occupational etiology. Our research goal was to experimentally determine sensitizing power and allergenic hazards of dry bakery, wine, and spirit yeast fungi. We developed an original technique based on oxidizing hydrolysis which we performed with an organic acid on surface β-glucoside bonds between elementary units of nitrogen-containing polysaccharide (chitin); the next stage was extraction in alkaline medium, and it allowed us to obtain extracts-allergens out of dry bakery, wine, and spirit yeast fungi with high contents of soluble protein-containing substances. It was quite sufficient for experimental modeling of their impacts on a body and detecting peculiarities of their biological effects. We validated an alternative short-term procedure which includes unified technology aimed at reproducing and objective detection of delayed hypersensitivity during an experiment performed on white mice. This procedure allows to detect allergenic power and allergenic hazard of a biological substance using its soluble proteins-antigens. Our experiments allowed to reveal that protein-antigen complexes contained in dry bakery, wine, and spirit yeast fungi had high sensitizing powers (allergenic powers) and belonged to the 1st allergenic hazard category (extremely dangerous occupational allergen). We showed that bakery, wine, and spirit yeast fungi had common antigen immune determinants. It makes body poly-sensitization quite possible under inhalation exposure to them in working conditions and causes high risks of cross allergenic responses in people who contact them.