Primate Respiratory Mast Cells

Mast cells were obtained from the bronchi of a group of monkeys with varying degrees of cutaneous and respiratory hypersensitivity to purified ascaris antigen. The respiratory tissue biopsies were repeated many times on the same subjects. The mast cells were identified in both fixed and living preparations of respiratory mucosa which were maintained under short-term tissue culture conditions. The living mast cells in respiratory tissue exposed to rabbit anti-human IgE and Compound 48/80 underwent morphologic changes of degranulation. Respiratory mast cells from rhesus monkeys with a sufficient degree of in vivo respiratory and cutaneous reactivity to ascaris antigen had similar loss of granules after exposure to antigen in vitro. The loss of granules resulted from their intracellular disappearance rather than extrusion from the mast cells. Treatment of the cells with anti-IgG caused some degranulation of mast cells, but to a lesser extent than was observed with anti-IgE, ascaris antigen or Compound 48/80.