Carbohydrate Polymers 95 (2013) 479–486 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Carbohydrate Polymers jo u rn al hom epa ge: www.elsevier.com/locate/carbpol Cotton-made cellulose support for anti-allergic pajamas Cezar-Doru Radu a,∗ , Mihaela Salariu a , Manuela Avadanei a , Cristina Ghiciuc b , Lili Foia b , Elena C˘ at˘ alina Lupusoru b , Ada Ferri c , Eugen Ulea d , Florin Lipsa d a “Gh.Asachi” Technical University Iasi (Romania), Department of Textile, Leather and Industrial Management b “Gr.T.Popa” University of Medicine and Pharmacollogy, Iasi c University of Turin (Italy), L.A.T.T. Biella d “I. Ionescu Brad” University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Iasi, Department of Plant Sciences a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 16 February 2013 Accepted 7 March 2013 Available online xxx Keywords: Allergy Pajamas Viola tricolor herb Propolis Monochlorotriazynine--cyclodextrin a b s t r a c t The cotton used to produce an interlock knitted fabric is alkaline boiled, bleached and after drying, it is grafted with monochlorotriazinyl-beta-cyclodextrin (MCT--CD) as a support of an inclusion com- pound (IC) with natural anti-allergic active principles, in order to improve the curative properties and the comfort. Are used: extract of Viola tricolor Herb (VtH), solution of propolis (P) and of menthol (M), as well as the pharmacologic products: advantan (AD), hydrocortisone (HYD) and pimechrolimus (PI). The dimensions of the active compound molecules were established with software. The textile material grafted with MCT--CD and with active principles absorbed in the cyclodextrin cavity is investigated by EDX. The anti-microbial activity of VtH, P and M was tested. Tactile determinations of softness were performed with human appraisers. By assembling the anti-allergic knitted fabric with untreated fabric, therapeutic pajamas were obtained. The manner to process and manufacture the pajamas for patients with contact and atopic (DA) dermatitis (DC) is presented. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction More than 500 million people suffer from different forms of allergies. Allergy is considered an exaggerated immune response of the body to a foreign substance named allergen. Recent researches suggest a continuous rise of different forms of allergies as a conse- quence of the standard of living due to rapid industrial civilization. Allergy is the excessive and anarchic response of the immune sys- tem to the action of an intruder known as allergen, which for most people is harmless (Aalberse & Crameri, 2011; Moldovan, 2000). Allergic diseases are caused by various environmental factors (Moldovan, 2000; Popescu, 1998). Susceptible individuals are aller- gic, and are called atopic. In order to become active, the allergen requires overcoming a threshold limit (Aalberse, 2011) and this for a period necessary to initiate an immune response. The presence of an allergen is often stimulated by microbial flora (Rippke, 2004). Available evidence suggests that viral respiratory infection can ini- tiate, maintain and activate exacerbation of allergic conditions in respiratory tract. Allergies are characterized by an innate or adap- tive immunity malfunction, with specific symptomatology for the skin (dermatitis), for nasal mucosa (rhinitis), for respiratory tract ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +40 748830254; fax: +40 232230491. E-mail addresses: rcezar2010@yahoo.com, dradu@tex.tuiasi.ro (C.-D. Radu). (asthma) or even high – risk lethal symptoms such as anaphylactic shock (Petrescu, Branisteanu, & Statescu, 2008). The works presents the stages of producing the textile support with anti-allergic properties, which are used for pajamas manufac- turing. The medical information is only used to the extent that it helps understanding the aspects which determine the textile mate- rial processing. The stages in realization of the anti-allergic clothing are adapted to the symptoms of DC and DA affected patients. The specialized literature (Aalberse & Crameri, 2011) specifies that, in order to efficiently cure the coetaneous allergic manifestations, it is necessary to apply specific medication, correlated with the uti- lization of pajamas that provides a coetaneous special comfort at the contact between the sick skin and the clothes. The allergy prophylaxis is difficult. The discomfort and frus- tration of patients with allergic dermatitis, lethal cases and the costs of medical assistance represents a problem that motivates it. When the allergen has not been identified, avoiding it from patient proximity is not possible and the measures and medical treatment attenuate the disease symptoms, but cannot solve the malady. Fig. 1 presents the location where the anti-allergic textile mate- rial acts to prevent or to stop the allergy evolution. Thus, at the allergen entrance, by means of lymphocytes T helper (white cells playing the role in phagocytosis), an IgE is formed as an ele- ment of cellular memory, which later on is fixed on the mastocite membrane. 0144-8617/$ – see front matter © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.carbpol.2013.03.037