Immunofluorescent localization of two water-soluble glycoproteins including the major allergen from the pollen of ryegrass, Lolium perenne.

Two major glycoproteins have been localized in sectioned grains of ryegrass pollen by direct and indirect immunofluorescence methods using Fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-labelled IgG fractions of antisera. These glycoproteins are the major allergen, Group 1 allergen, and a principal antigen, Antigen A. Four methods of fixation were employed: freeze-drying, methanol, 2.5% glutaraldehyde and 4% paraformaldehyde for 1 h at 4 degrees C. The post-embedding staining technique of immunocytochemistry was used: anthers were embedded directly, or after dehydration, in JB-4 plastic resin and antibody reacted with sectioned pollen. The effects of these fixatives on the antibody combining sites of the antigens were quantified by a solid phase radioimmunoassay using [125I]protein A to measure antibody binding. In mature pollen, these antigens were located in the cytoplasm and in the complex wall. In developing grains early in the maturation period, specific fluorescence was concentrated at the periphery of the cytoplasm.