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Updated: Jul 5, 2026

Isolation of Peritoneum-derived Mast Cells and Their Functional Characterization with Ca2+-imaging and Degranulation Assays
Published on: July 4, 2018
Isolation of tissue mast cells
1National Institute of Allergy And Infectious Diseases, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
Mast cells, unlike other immune effector cells, are not found in the circulation and thus must be obtained from accessible tissues such as gastrointestinal and lung tissue. In this unit, a combination of mechanical fragmentation, enzyme digestion, and centrifugation procedures are used to obtain suspensions enriched for mast cells from gastrointestinal tissue. A support protocol details a procedure for acid toluidine blue staining of mast cells.
Mast cells, unlike other immune effector cells, are not found in the circulation and thus must be obtained from accessible tissues such as gastrointestinal and lung tissue. In this unit, a combination of mechanical fragmentation, enzyme digestion, and centrifugation procedures are used to obtain suspensions enriched for mast cells from gastrointestinal tissue. A support protocol details a procedure for acid toluidine blue staining of mast cells.
