Abstract

Food allergy is now an important health issue, and there is urgent need for a developmental approach to identify allergenic potential of food. We present an approach that shows some promise for assessment of shrimp allergenicity using BALB/c strain mice. The mice were immunized by intraperitoneal injection of shrimp allergen. Mast cell degranulation in combination with serologic methods was used to monitor protein allergy. The results showed the method could continuously reflect the variation of allergic symptom and actualize dynamic determination of shrimp allergenicity. Furthermore, it is feasible, sensitive and repeatable. The approach will provide some valuable reference for identifying allergenicity of novel food proteins by using animal model in the future. 

Key words: Shrimp allergen, allergenicity, mast cell, serology.