When someone that has an allergy to pollen comes in contact with pollen, their immune system confuses the pollen with a dangerous pathogen. Thus, their immune system overreacts, releasing pro-inflammatory compounds such as histamines. The release of histamines in the nasal passages, sinuses, airways… contributes to the typical allergy symptoms (nasal congestion, sneezing, itching, watery eyes…) This is why, if you have allergies, you will take anti-histamine medications such as Zyrtec, Claritin, Benadryl, Allegra, etc. . But histamines are not the only pro-inflammatory compounds involved in allergic reactions. Other chemicals like leukotrienes and cytokines are also released during the allergic response. These compounds further amplify allergic responses. This is why there are other medications for allergies such as leukotriene inhibitors (Singulair…) that can help manage allergies. . Although pollen is the most common trigger for allergies (seasonal allergies), allergies can also be caused by many other things (allergens) such as mold spores, pet dander, dust mites, etc. but the allergic response mechanism is very similar. . Do you have seasonal allergies or any other allergies? Our immune system is amazing but there is still so much more to understand about it! . By the way, there is growing scientific evidence indicating that climate change is contributing to the worsening of seasonal allergies (pollen seasons are starting earlier and lasting longer). These are some of the studies showing this: Anderegg, W. R. L., Anderegg, L. A., & Kane, J. M. (2018). Anthropogenic climate change is worsening North American pollen seasons. Nature Climate Change, 8(1), 19-23. Beggs, S., Eckert, J., & Krawczyk, S. (2020). Climate change is making pollen more potent. Allergy, 75(1), 149-157. Diaz, R. J., & Barve, S. (2021). Climate change increases the risk of allergic asthma. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(15), e2019103118. . For this video I used an Olympus CX31 microscope and up to 400x magnification. #microscopy #microscope #microscopio #pollination #pollen #polen #seasonalallergies #histamines #climatechange #drbioforever