Histochemical and functional characteristics of the human nasal mast cell.

It is currently accepted that mast cell heterogeneity occurs not only in different species but also within the same organ in the same species. This study demonstrates that the majority of mast cells in the human nasal mucosa of non-atopic non-rhinitic subjects do not stain after fixation with 10% buffered formol saline and, although they stain with alcian blue, they do not counterstain with safranine O, indicating that nasal mast cells may contain a proteoglycan other than heparin. Further, mast cells in the nasal mucosa are essentially unaffected by the polyamine compound 48/80, indicating that they are functionally dissimilar to the connective tissue type mast cells exemplified by those present in the rat tongue.