title: Response of the rat mucosal and connective tissue type mast cells to interferon-alpha.
abstract: The distribution, density and histochemical subtype of mast cells (mucosal and connective tissue) were studied in the ileum, trachea and skin of rats treated with IFN alpha (70.000 IU/kg) treated rats. Light and electron microscopic procedures were utilized. The total number of mucosal mast cells in the sections of ileum and trachea were markedly increased in the IFN-alpha treated group (ileum: 31.9 +/- 2.2 cells/villuscrypt unit; trachea: 10,355 +/- 264 cells/mm3). However, the number of connective tissue mast cells did not show any significant change in the skin between IFN-alpha treated (1,472 +/- 125 cells/mm3) and saline-treated (1,757 +/- 264 cells/mm3) groups. We conclude that mast cell proliferation does exist in the rat ileum and trachea but no in the skin response to IFN-alpha. We suggest that this model provides a powerful tool to study differential effects of IFN-alpha on mast cell subtypes and to identify their role in the immunoregulatory and inflammatory reactions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Histology, Hacettepe University Sihhiye, 06100, Ankara-Turkey.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Dalçik
authors.forename: M K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Irmak
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ozcan
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Karaöz
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Oztas
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dalçik
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002452:Cell Count; D007082:Ileum / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008297:Male; D008407:Mast Cells / Q000187:drug effects*; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D009092:Mucous Membrane / Q000187:drug effects / Q000648:ultrastructure; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012867:Skin / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D014132:Trachea / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000648:ultrastructure
chemical_list: D016898:Interferon-alpha