Oxygen Consumption of Isolated Mast Cells in the Anaphylactic Reaction

Abstract

HISTAMINE release in anaphylaxis is inhibited by low oxygen tension in guinea pig lung^1–3 and with more difficulty in rat lung⁴. Conversely, at normal oxygen tension, the anaphylactic reaction is accompanied by a small increase in oxygen consumption in guinea pig lung tissue5 (a fact which one of us (J. L. M.) has confirmed in unpublished observations). When histamine is released from lung, it probably originates largely from mast cells which form only a very small fraction of the tissue, and it seemed, therefore, that a clearer picture of the relevance of oxygen for the anaphylactic reaction could be obtained from investigations on isolated mast cells. Unlike the guinea pig, the rat provides a good source of separate mast cells (¼–½ million can be isolated from the peritoneal washings of one animal).