Heparin-containing mast cells in the jejunal mucosa of normal and parasitized Mongolian gerbils, Meriones unguiculatus.

Histochemical stainability of mast cells in the small intestine of Mongolian gerbils, Meriones unguiculatus, was examined before and after infection with Nippostrongylus brasiliensis, a well-known intestinal helminth inducing intestinal mastocytosis in rats and mice. Mast cells seen in the small intestine of Mongolian gerbils were exclusively formalin-resistant and were strongly stained by berberine sulfate, regardless of whether the animals were normal or infected with N. brasiliensis. Furthermore, they were, either normal or induced by infection, only seen in the lamina propria and submucosa but never seen in the jejunal epithelium. Such histochemical properties and distribution of intestinal mast cells of Mongolian gerbils were different from previously known characteristics of mast cells in the small intestine of rats and other animal species.