TY - JOUR
T1 - Mast cells and macrophages in normal C57/BL/6 mice
AU - Gersch, Christine
AU - Dewald, Oliver
AU - Zoerlein, Martin
AU - Michael, Lloyd H.
AU - Entman, Mark L.
AU - Frangogiannis, Nikolaos G.
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgements The authors wish to thank Alida Evans and Stephanie Butcher for technical assistance, and Sharon Malinowski and Concepcion Mata for their editorial assistance with the manuscript. This work was supported by NIH grant HL-42550, the DeBakey Heart Center, and a grant from the Methodist Hospital Foundation (N.G.F.). Dr. Dewald is supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.
PY - 2002
Y1 - 2002
N2 - Mast cells and macrophages have an important role in immunity and inflammation. Because mice are used extensively for experimental studies investigating immunological and inflammatory responses, we examined mast cell and macrophage distribution in normal murine tissues. Mast cells were abundant in the murine dermis, tongue, and skeletal muscle but were rarely found in the heart, lung, spleen, kidney, liver, and the bowel mucosa. In contrast, dogs exhibited large numbers of mast cells in the lung parenchyma, liver, and bowel. Some murine dermal mast cells had long cytoplasmic projections filled with granular content. Mouse mast cells demonstrated intense histamine immunoreactivity and were identified with histochemical enzymatic techniques for tryptase and chymase. Macrophages, identified using the monoclonal antibody F4/80, were abundant in the spleen, lung, liver, kidney, and bowel but relatively rare in the heart, tongue, and dermis. Using a nuclease protection assay we investigated mRNA expression of stem cell factor (SCF), a crucial survival factor for mast cells, and the macrophage growth factors macrophage colony stimulating factor (M-CSF) and granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF). Stem cell factor mRNA was highly expressed in the murine lung. Relatively low levels of SCF mRNA expression were found in the tongue and earlobe, which are tissues containing a high number of mast cells. Macrophage CSF and GM-CSF mRNA was highly expressed in the lung and spleen. The murine heart, an organ with a low macrophage content, expressed high levels of M-CSF but negligible levels of GM-CSF mRNA. Constitutive growth factor mRNA expression in murine tissues without significant populations of mast cells and macrophages may suggest an alternative role for these factors in tissue homeostasis.
AB - Mast cells and macrophages have an important role in immunity and inflammation. Because mice are used extensively for experimental studies investigating immunological and inflammatory responses, we examined mast cell and macrophage distribution in normal murine tissues. Mast cells were abundant in the murine dermis, tongue, and skeletal muscle but were rarely found in the heart, lung, spleen, kidney, liver, and the bowel mucosa. In contrast, dogs exhibited large numbers of mast cells in the lung parenchyma, liver, and bowel. Some murine dermal mast cells had long cytoplasmic projections filled with granular content. Mouse mast cells demonstrated intense histamine immunoreactivity and were identified with histochemical enzymatic techniques for tryptase and chymase. Macrophages, identified using the monoclonal antibody F4/80, were abundant in the spleen, lung, liver, kidney, and bowel but relatively rare in the heart, tongue, and dermis. Using a nuclease protection assay we investigated mRNA expression of stem cell factor (SCF), a crucial survival factor for mast cells, and the macrophage growth factors macrophage colony stimulating factor (M-CSF) and granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF). Stem cell factor mRNA was highly expressed in the murine lung. Relatively low levels of SCF mRNA expression were found in the tongue and earlobe, which are tissues containing a high number of mast cells. Macrophage CSF and GM-CSF mRNA was highly expressed in the lung and spleen. The murine heart, an organ with a low macrophage content, expressed high levels of M-CSF but negligible levels of GM-CSF mRNA. Constitutive growth factor mRNA expression in murine tissues without significant populations of mast cells and macrophages may suggest an alternative role for these factors in tissue homeostasis.
KW - Growth factors
KW - Macrophage
KW - Mast cell
KW - Mouse
KW - Tryptase
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0036315811&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0036315811&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s00418-002-0425-z
DO - 10.1007/s00418-002-0425-z
M3 - Article
C2 - 12122446
AN - SCOPUS:0036315811
SN - 0948-6143
VL - 118
SP - 41
EP - 49
JO - Histochemistry and Cell Biology
JF - Histochemistry and Cell Biology
IS - 1
ER -