Recent experimental studies have shown that the basophil is critical for a subtype of anaphylaxis or IgEmediated very late-phase skin inflammation.1 Motility and activation of basophils are known to be regulated by various endogenous and or exogenous substances. The panel of known such basophil-directed molecules is expanding. One important candidate may be geranylgeranyl compounds, which were ...

Protective vasodilation during acid back diffusion into the rat gastric mucosa depends on activation of sensory neurons and mast cell degranulation with histamine release. We hypothesized that these two mediator systems interact and that histamine partly exerts its effect via sensory nerves. Gastric blood flow (GBF) and luminal histamine were measured in chambered stomachs, and mast cell number...

It has been proposed that exercise provokes bronchoconstriction in asthma by inducing mast cell degranulation, and that this occurs secondary to the hyperpnoea of exercise causing hypertonicity of the airway lining fluid. We investigated the contribution of the mast cell products, histamine and prostaglandins, to the bronchoconstriction induced by isocapnic hyperventilation (ISH) using single d...

KAY, JOHN MICHAEL, JACK C. WAYMIRE, AND ROBERT F. GROVER. -Lung mast cell h..perplasia and pulmonary histamine-forming capacity in hypoxic rats. Am. J. Physiol. 226(l): 178-184. 1974.We have studied lung mast cells (MC), histamine, and pulmonary histamine-forming capacity (PHFC) in acute and chronic hypoxic pulmonary hypertension in rats. Histochemical examination of lung tissue showed no evide...

Exercise induced anaphylaxis is an uncommon condition first reported by Sheffer and Austen in 1980. In this condition there is an exercise-induced lowering of the mast cell degranulation threshold, causing release of histamine and other mediators leading to the progression of symptoms of anaphylaxis. These can range from mild cutaneous pruritis and urticaria to severe systemic manifestations su...

We constructed the expression vector pSK-SCP containing the streptococcal exotoxin B gene (spe b) which expressed protease activity. We showed that the recombinant streptococcal pyogenic exotoxin B/streptococcal cysteine protease (rSPE B/SCP) was secreted into the culture supernatant of the transformant and retained its SCP activity, which was equivalent to or greater than that of the naturally...

Systemic exacerbation of allergic responses, in which mast cells play a critical role, results in life-threatening anaphylactic shock. Sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P), a ligand for a family of G protein-coupled receptors, is a new addition to the repertoire of bioactive lipids secreted by activated mast cells. Yet little is known of its role in human mast cell functions and in anaphylaxis. We sho...

A method is described by which mast cells harvested from the rat peritoneal cavity can be deposited on the surface of a Millipore filter without gross injury, permitting observation of morphological and chemical changes induced by a variety of agents. These isolated peritoneal mast cells respond to 48/80 and to polymyxin B but not to dextran or ovomucoid with degranulation and histamine release...

One hypothesis for the decreased rates of atopy observed among helminth-infected individuals is that parasite-induced polyclonal immunoglobulin E (IgE) out-competes allergen-specific IgE for FcepsilonRI binding on basophils and mast cells. In experiments with fresh blood drawn from filaria-infected patients, we found no association between ratios of polyclonal to Brugia malayi antigen (BmAg)-sp...