PHORBOL 12-MYRISTATE 13-ACETATE INDUCED DEVELOPMENT OF FUNCTIONALLY ACTIVE MAST-CELLS IN W/WV BUT NOT SL/SLD GENETICALLY MAST CELL-DEFICIENT MICE

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  • 15 April 1990
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 75  (8) , 1637-1645
Abstract
The normal skin and other tissues of adult geneticaly mast cell-deficient WBB6F1-W/Wv or WCB6F1-SI/SId mice contain less than 1.0% the number of mast cells present in the correspoding tissues of the congenic normal (+/+) mice. We previously reported that mature dermal mast cells developed locally in the skin of W/Wv, but not SI/SId, mice at sites of chronic idiopathic dermatitis. We now report that the repeated application of phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) to the ear skin of either W/Wv or +/+ mice induces both dermatitis and a striking and dose-dependent increase in the number of dermal mast cells. The number of dermal mast cells at sites treated for 6 weeks with 5 .mu.g PMA, three times per week, was 39 .+-. 7/mm2 and 305 .+-. 34/mm2 for W/Wv and +/+ mice, respectively; the corresponding values for vehicle-treated skin were 1.5 .+-. 1.0/mm2 and 145 .+-. 8/mm2, respectively. The PMA-induced dermal mast cells in W/Wv mice appeared mature by morphology, stained with the heparin-binding fluorescent dye, berberine sulfate, and were competent to express IgE-dependent passive cutaneous anaphylaxis responses. The development of mast cells was a local, not systemic, effect of PMA treatment. PMA treatment also induced dermatitis in both WCB6F1-SI/SId and +/+ mice, but was associated with increased numbers of dermal mast cells only in the WCB6F1-+/+ mice. PMA treatment had no detectable effect on the ability of bone marrow-derived cultured mast cells to survive in the skin of SI/SId mice. These findings establish a convenient model system for analyzing factors associated with the development of endogenous populations of mast cells in genetically mast cell-deficient W/Wv mice.