An allergopalynologic comparative study of the Humulus Lupulus' pollen grains (Cannabaceae) in different habitats

Abstract

Pollen allergy is a human disease that is rapidly growing among the Albanian population. There are many plants in Albania that cause this disease and Humulus lupulus (Cannabaceae) is one of them. In this study is presented an allergopalynologic description of pollen grains of this plant. They were taken in the Elbasan region of Albania and are studied for the first time by the local researchers. The slides were prepared using two methods: acetolysis and basic fuchsine method. The results have shown that the pollen grains of H. lupulus were triporate. Also, is done the comparison of the size of pollen grains for the specie studied with others from foreign literature that belong to different habitats. The study showed the pollen grains of H. lupulus taken in Elbasan area have similarities to the morphological features with H. lupulus' pollen according to the foreign literature, but they differ from their size. By our study, it turns out that the pollen grains of H. hupulus from Elbasan habitat have smaller sizes than those obtained from the literature. We conclude that the change in the size of pollen grains caused by environmental factors and the chosen method during processing laboratory.