Granular mucosal lymphocytes in porcine small intestine
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Updated: Oct 22, 2026

Isolation and Flow Cytometric Characterization of Murine Small Intestinal Lymphocytes
Published on: May 8, 2016
1Department of Pathology, Pig Research Institute, Taiwan, Chunan, Miaoli, ROC.
Abstract:
A subpopulation of purified, interepithelial lymphocytes from porcine small intestinal mucosa contained cytoplasmic granules. Toluidine blue staining revealed metachromatic granules in 13.64% (606/4,450) cells. The cells had scant organelles, a single large nucleus with obvious invagination of the nuclear membrane, and prominent chromatin. Each cell contained 1 to 10 cytoplasmic membrane-bound granules, 0.6 to 1.5 micron in diameter. These findings indicated that the granular mucosal lymphocytes are related morphologically to mucosal mast cells. The presence of serotonin in the granules, confirmed by the serotonin releasing test, provided functional evidence that granular mucosal lymphocytes are related to mucosal mast cells.
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