International archives of allergy and applied immunology 1989-01-01

Numbers and heterogeneity of mast cells in the male genital tract of the rat.

F J Fritz, R Pabst

Index: Int. Arch. Allergy Appl. Immunol. 88(3) , 360-2, (1989)

Full Text: HTML

Abstract

Normal adult rats were used to quantitate and characterize mast cells in the male genital tract. The tissues were either fixed in a fixative containing formalin (Schaffer solution) or with basic lead acetate (BLA) to identify 'connective-tissue mast cells' and 'mucosal mast cells', respectively. In the epididymis and seminal vesicle small numbers of mast cells were identified without any obvious heterogeneity. In the prostate, however, a mean of 45.1 +/- 9.3 and 23.0 +/- 4.0 mast cells/mm2 was found after BLA and Schaffer fixation, respectively. This difference might be of functional and clinical significance.