Immune reactions in mucous membranes. I. Intestinal mast cell response during helminth expulsion in the rat.

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  • 1 March 1971
    • journal article
    • Vol. 20  (3) , 277-88
Abstract
Measurement of the mast cell response in the jejunal mucosae of rats infected with Nippostrongylus brasiliensis was carried out at the time of worm expulsion (self-cure). Just prior to the start of self-cure, a new mast cell population differentiated from cells with large nuclei and prominent nucleoli. Beginning on the 10th day of infection, mast cell numbers increased in an exponential fashion and reached a peak in the middle of the self-cure reaction 14 days after infection. At first the cells had few granules but their granule content subsequently increased and by day 14 some of them appeared to be mature. Mitoses were observed in granulated cells at all stages of the population expansion.