A Closer Look: Pollen Under the Microscope

Pollen is a fine powdery substance, consisting of microscopic grains released from the male part of a flower or from a male cone. The pollen is transported by the wind, insects, or other animals. Plants pollinate throughout the year, but in Georgia (where our office is located) the pollen count is higher in the spring.

Pollen is a common cause of allergies in the United States. Some of the reactions to pollen include sneezing, stuffy nose, itchy throat, and watery eyes. There are hundreds of plant species that release pollen into the air and trigger allergic reactions. The top contributors to pollen in Georgia are pine, oak, mulberry, sweetgum, and birch.

Pollen is also a nuisance. It can be found on sidewalks, railings, cars, and outdoor furniture. During pollen season, most cars look like the car in the image below. It was taken a day after an extremely high pollen count was measured in the Atlanta metro area, 6,974 grains in a cubic meter of air. The high count piqued our curiosity, and we decided to look at the pollen under a polarized light microscope and a scanning electron microscope.

The images below show pollen particles taken with a polarized light microscope (PLM) at a magnification of 200X and 500X. Using PLM allows us to see the grains’ external and internal structures and identify them as pine tree pollen.

PLM of pollen at various magnification. Click image to expand.

The images below show mostly pine tree grains and one sweetgum grain. They were taken with a scanning electron microscope (SEM) at different magnification. The SEM produces an image by scanning the surface of a sample with a focused beam of electrons. Using SEM allows us to see the surface topography of the pollen. SEM can also provide information about the composition of a sample.

To learn more about our capabilities, please contact us at 770-662-8509 or info@mvainc.com.

To learn more about pollen allergy, visit the National Institute of Environmental Health Science.