Stanley and Acetolysis: Enhanced Method for Pollen Identification and Geolocation of Cocaine Samples

oleh: Marina Milanello do Amaral, Cynthia Ramos, Paulo Eduardo de Oliveira, Vanda Brito de Medeiros, Fábio Augusto da Silva Salvador, Raphaella Fernandes Rodrigues

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: Instituto Paulista de Estudos Bioéticos e Jurídicos 2024-09-01

Deskripsi

The concept of palynological assemblage, a set of all identifiable pollen grains and spores, is very useful in geolocation determinations in Forensic Studies. To identify plant genera, palynologists must recognize detailed aspects of apertures, ornamentation and layers on the cell wall. Pollen and spores recovered from higher purity cocaine samples represent an alternative to indicate drug source regions. After following the method established by Stanley in 1992, we added the acetolysis procedure in samples seized by the Civil Police of the State of Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 2017, in order to enhance morphological traits observation and taxonomical identification of different pollen taxa, allowing reliable environmental and geolocation reconstructions.