We describe a case of allergy caused by ingestion of eggplant in an atopic subject. Symptoms included urticaria, itching of the throat, and hoarseness. Skin prick test (SPT) was positive with 4 varieties of eggplant; however, allergen-specifi c immunoglobulin E was not detected. SPT with fractions of green long eggplant extract obtained by dialysis and ultrafi ltration suggested the allergen to be less than 10 kd. SPT following acetone precipitation of eggplant extract revealed that the allergen was present in the supernatant portion. Further analysis by size-exclusion chromatography of the 10 kd fi ltrate of eggplant extract on Sephadex G-25 followed by SPT of fractions revealed that the causative allergen was a low molecular weight nonprotein secondary metabolite of less than 1 kd. To our knowledge, this is the fi rst report of allergy to the ingestion of eggplant in which a nonprotein secondary metabolite has been detected as an allergen.

Key words: Allergens. Aubergine. Eggplant. Food allergy. Secondary metabolite. Solanaceae . Solanum melongena.