Mucosal mast cells in irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease.

Even though exciting progresses have been until now, further studies are necessary to clearly understand the significance of MMC. Mast cells are thought to participate in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease and irritable bowel syndrome. However, their role in the pathogenesis remains unsettled. The specific aims of this study were to (1) examine mucosal mast cell counts in the cecum in patient with IBS, and IBD (2) compare MMC between the disease groups. We showed increased MMC count in IBS.