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Perivascular mast cells in urticaria pigmentosa
Author(s) -
Sweet William L.,
Smoller Bruce R.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
journal of cutaneous pathology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.597
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 1600-0560
pISSN - 0303-6987
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0560.1996.tb01474.x
Subject(s) - urticaria pigmentosa , mast cell , histamine , medicine , pathology , blood vessel , mast (botany) , immunology
We have quantified perivascular mast cells in cases of urticaria pigmentosa, urticaria, and dermal hypersensitivity reactions. To facilitate reproducibility, the mast cells were counted for a precisely defined vessel unit. These vessel units were divided arbitrarily into those ≤55μm and > 55μm in largest diameters. Urticaria pigmentosa showed an average of 6.4 ± 1.9 and 22.8 ± 13.2 masts cells for vessel unit ≤ 55μm and ≤ 55μm, respectively. Urticaria yielded a lower number of mast cells: 1.5 ± 0.2 and 2.9 ± 0.9 for the same respective vessel units. Dermal hypersensitivity reactions revealed an average of 1.6 ± 0.4 and 2.2 ± 0.7 mast cells, and the normal skin showed 1.5 ± 0.3 and 2.4 ± 0.6 mast cells for each of the vessel units of ≤ 55μm and > 55μm. The perivascular mast cell distributions of urticaria pigmentosa are statistically different from those of urticaria and dermal hypersensitivity reactions with p < 0.0001. No statistical difference was noted between urticaria, dermal hypersensitivity reactions, and normal skin. The percentages of vessel units ≤ 55μm with ≥ 5 mast cells and vessel units < 55μm with ≥ 10 mast cells were determined for each case. The average percentage of vessel units for the former and latter in urticaria pigmentosa was 82.6% and 58.9%, respectively. Urticaria yielded 0% and 0.2%, respectively. None of vessel units in the dermal hypersensitivity reactions or normal skin contained more than 5 mast cells in vessel units ≤ 55μm and more than 10 mast cells in vessel units > 55μm. Cases of urticaria pigmentosa can be distinguished from other cutaneous eruptions containing mast cells using a simple counting technique on Giemsa stained sections.