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Histochemical Characteristics and Degranulation of Mast Cells in Epithelium and Lamina Propria of Bronchial Biopsies from Asthmatic and Normal Subjects
- Source :
- American Review of Respiratory Disease. 147:684-689
- Publication Year :
- 1993
- Publisher :
- American Thoracic Society, 1993.
-
Abstract
- We examined the staining characteristics and degranulation of mast cells in bronchial biopsy specimens taken by fiberoptic bronchoscopy from 13 stable asthmatic patients and eight normal nonsmoking subjects. Specimens were fixed in periodate-lysine-paraformaldehyde, embedded in glycol methacrylate, and stained with toluidine blue (2%) for 30 min (pH 2.7) and 7 days (pH 0.5). The number of mast cells in the epithelium and in the lamina propria was counted under light microscopy. In addition, the distribution of mast cells with different granule contents, arbitrarily defined as degranulated or partly degranulated and fully granulated, was estimated at the two levels. In asthmatic subjects, the number of mast cells in the epithelium after either staining method was significantly higher compared with that in control subjects. The number of mast cells in the lamina propria, but not in the epithelium, was significantly higher after 7 days compared with 30-min toluidine blue stain both in asthmatic (135.6/mm2 versus 74.8/mm2; p < 0.001) and control subjects (121.5/mm2 versus 71.5/mm2; p < 0.01). There was evidence of a progressive mast cell degranulation when moving toward the airway lumen in both groups. However, degranulation was more evident in asthmatic subjects. In both groups, granulated mast cells were absent in the epithelium, whereas in the lamina propria granulated mast cells were approximately one-third of total in asthmatic and two-thirds of total in normal subjects. These observations suggest that mast cells in human bronchial mucosa are heterogeneous with respect to histochemical characteristics. They provide evidence that degranulation of mast cells occurs in both asthmatic and normal subjects and that degranulation is greater in asthmatics.
- Subjects :
- Adult
Male
Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine
Pathology
medicine.medical_specialty
Time Factors
Cell Degranulation
Biopsy
Bronchi
Cell Count
Epithelium
medicine
Humans
Mast Cells
Analysis of Variance
Bronchus
Lamina propria
Mucous Membrane
Staining and Labeling
medicine.diagnostic_test
Histocytochemistry
business.industry
Degranulation
Mast cell
Asthma
Staining
medicine.anatomical_structure
Female
business
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 00030805
- Volume :
- 147
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- American Review of Respiratory Disease
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....757f84ff9020b0e55b0372bb98421f2d