Abstract
A study was made on the distribution of mast cellsand eosinophils in the nasal mucosa of humans with nasal allergy and guinea pigs with experimental nasal allergy and on the histamine content in mast cells. Distribution of IgE in human nasal mucosa was also studied. The results follow.
1. When nasal mucosal tissue of allergic rhinitiswas compared with that of hypertrophic rhinitis, increase in the number of mast cells and eosinophils in the epithelium was larger in allergic rhinitis.
2. Expression of IgE in mast cells was clearly increascd in allergic rhinitis, but there was no clear difference between the anterior and posterior regions of the nasal concha.
3. For both hypertrophic and allergic rhinitis, thehistamine content in mast cells was higher in deep layers than in the epithelium.
4. In guinea pigs with experimentally induced nasalallergy by inhalation of ovalbumin, the production of histamine by mast cells was observed to increase during the induction process. However, unlike human nasal allergy, the histamine content in mast cells did not differ between the deep layers and epithelium.
The above findings indicate that mast cells play an active role in allergic rhinitis.
