Homology of the rat basophilic leukemia cell and the rat mucosal mast cell.

Secretory granules of the rat basophilic leukemia (RBL-1) cell, a chemically generated tumor cell line maintained in tissue culture, were shown to stain with alcian blue but not with safranin counterstain and to have sparse, small, electron-dense granules. A Mr 25,000 protein was the major [3H]diisopropyl fluorophosphate-binding protein in extracts of RBL-1 cells. Double-immunodiffusion analysis of extracts revealed immunoreactivity for rat mast cell protease (RMCP)-II, a Mr 25,000 neutral protease present in the secretory granules of rat mucosal mast cells and cultured rat bone marrow-derived mast cells, but no immunoreactivity for RMCP-I, the predominant neutral protease of rat connective tissue mast cells. By radial immunodiffusion, there was 66.8 ng of RMCP-II per 10(6) cells. Whereas rat connective tissue mast cells stain with alcian blue and safranin and contain heparin proteoglycan, rat mucosal and rat bone marrow-derived mast cells stain with alcian blue only and contain a non-heparin proteoglycan and lesser amounts of histamine. Proliferation of rat mucosal mast cells in vivo and rat bone marrow-derived mast cells in vitro requires T-cell factors, whereas no comparable requirement has been observed for connective tissue mast cells. The transformed RBL-1 tumor cells, whose growth is independent of factors other than those present in standard tissue culture medium, has previously been shown to contain predominantly chondroitin sulfate di-B proteoglycans and low amounts of histamine. The similar histology and secretory granule biochemistry of the rat mucosal mast cells, rat culture-derived mast cell, and RBL-1 cell suggest that they comprise a single mast cell subclass distinct from the rat connective tissue mast cell.