HISTAMINE AND MAST CELLS IN DEVELOPING RAT BRAIN

Abstract

Abstract— The number and distribution of mast cells in rat brain were determined at different postnatal ages. The number of brain mast cells was found to change during ontogenic development following the same pattern as brain histamine (HA) levels. The calculated HA content of brain mast cells was close to the HA content of the crude nuclear fraction at every age studied. Since most of the brain HA in the newborn sediments with the crude nuclear fraction, these results suggest that the developmental pattern of brain HA reflects changes in the number of brain mast cells, that is, in the size of the mast cell HA pool. The HA content of the supernatant of the crude nuclear fraction corrected for mast cell HA contamination, on the other hand, follows a developmental pattern similar to that of other known neurotransmitters.