Measurement of amount of pollen of Cryptomeria japonica (Taxodiaceae)

A photoacoustic (PA) microscope was applied to measure the amount of the pollen of the Cryptomeria japonica, which is famous for its allergic function against eyes and nose. The advantage of PA imaging is both its high-sensitivity and its counting ability up to high-concentration region. The pollen was collected and fixed on an adhesive tape on a slide-glass set in a PA cell. The PA image showed the ability of this method to count CJ pollen up to several tens of particles. The obtained PA signal was integrated over the specimen surface. The PA signal dependence on the amount of the pollen was measured. The results showed that the coefficient of correlation of the calibration curve is more than 0.94.