Histamine release by phosphatidic acid from isolated mast cells of two types of genetically different rats.

Phosphatidic acid produced a similar dose-dependent release of histamine from isolated peritoneal mast cells of two types of rat, one of which did not release histamine when dextran was present in the incubation mixture. This release induced by phosphatidic acid resembled that evoked by a basic secretagogue like compound 48/80, being independent of exogenous calcium and unaffected by either phosphatidyl serine or its lyso derivative. The non-cytotoxic release of histamine induced by phosphatidic acid is therefore distinct from that by dextran and does not involve dextran receptors residing on the plasma membrane of mast cells of rats which show the dextran anaphylactoid reaction.