Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2001 Jul 2;194(1):F1-5.
doi: 10.1084/jem.194.1.f1.

The diverse roles of mast cells

M F Gurish  1 , K F Austen
Affiliations
Review

The diverse roles of mast cells

M F Gurish et al. J Exp Med. .
No abstract available

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
MC development and diversity. MC lineage progenitors arise in the bone marrow, circulate through the vasculature, and move into tissues to complete their development. In skin and connective tissues of mice, mature MCs present different protease phenotypes within their secretory granules in different tissues. In mucosal tissues of mice, MCs remain as committed progenitors until acted on by T cell–derived cytokines.
Figure 2
Figure 2
MC function. Mature cells release preformed mediators, proteases, and vasoactive amines; vasoactive de novo–derived arachidonic acid metabolites, LTC4 and PGD2; and activation-induced gene products, e.g., TNF-α. These mediators have pleiotropic and even redundant effects on various tissues such as smooth muscle, leukocytes, and hypothalamic neurons (indicated by box in top right). Of note, the interaction between neurons and MCs can result in activation of MCs via CRF with resultant inflammation and disruption of the blood–brain barrier or release of adrenal-derived glucocorticoids with the potential downmodulation of an inflammatory response. This scheme is based primarily on studies done in rats and mice with the antiinflammatory production of cortisol derived from the dog.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment on

References

    1. Matsumoto I., Inoue Y., Shimada T., Aikama T. Brain mast cells act as an immune gate to the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in dogs. J. Exp. Med. 2001;194:71–78. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Singh L.K., Boucher W., Pang X., Letourneau R., Seretakis D., Green M., Theoharides T.C. Potent mast cell degranulation and vascular permeability triggered by urocortin through activation of corticotropin-releasing hormone receptors. J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther. 1999;288:1349–1356. - PubMed
    1. Esposito P., Gheorghe D., Kandere K., Pang X., Connolly R., Jacobson S., Theoharides T.C. Acute stress increases permeability of the blood¯brain-barrier through activation of brain mast cells. Brain Res. 2001;888:117–127. - PubMed
    1. Secor V.H., Secor W.E., Gutekunst C.-A., Brown M.A. Mast cells are essential for early onset and severe disease in a murine model of multiple sclerosis. J. Exp. Med. 2000;191:813–822. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kitamura Y., Go S., Hatanaka K. Decrease of mast cells in W/Wv mice and their increase by bone marrow transplantation. Blood. 1978;52:447–452. - PubMed