Figure 5.
A zinc (Zn) wave is induced by FceRI‐mediated mast cell activation. FceRI stimulation via antigen plus immunoglobulin (Ig)E induces mast cell activation, including degranulation and cytokine production. Intracellular Zn levels, which can be detected using FluoZin‐3, increased within 20 min after FceRI stimulation. We have named this increase the ‘Zn wave’ and showed that these waves are dependent on Ca2+ influx and mitogen‐activated protein (MAP) kinase activation via FceRI stimulation. The Zn wave appears to originate in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and suppresses phosphatase activity, which is followed by MAP kinase activation and cytokine expression.