. 2017 Apr 6;8:363. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2017.00363

Table 1.

The function of mast cells (MCs) in Plasmodium spp., Leishmania spp., Trypanosoma spp., and Toxoplasma gondii infections.

Parasite	MC/disease	Animal model/patient sample	Mechanism	No involvement	Reference
Plasmodium spp.	In the skin of patients or animals with Plasmodium infection	Patients with Plasmodium falciparum malaria	Significantly increased MC degranulation was correlated with parasitemia and disease severity		Wilainam et al. (16)
		Swiss mice exposed to Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes infected with Plasmodium berghei NK65	MCs were observed in the vicinity of sporozoites at 1 h after mosquito bite		Choumet et al. (17)
	In the brains of mice with Plasmodium infection	C57BL/6-WBB6F₁-W/W^v (W/W^v) and wild-type WBB6F₁^+/+ (+/+) mice infected with P. berghei ANKA	+/+ mice had lower parasitemia and mortality, with higher tumor necrosis factor levels compared to W/W^v mice		Furuta et al. (18)
		MC-deficient and basophil-depleted C57BL/6 mice infected with P. berghei ANKA		MCs and basophils were not involved in the development of experimental cerebral malaria	Porcherie et al. (19)
		H3R^−/− mice infected with P. berghei ANKA	The severity of cerebral malaria was correlated with the increased plasmatic levels of histamine in H3R^−/− mice		Beghdadi et al. (20)
		Histidine decarboxylase-deficient (HDC^−/−) C57BL/6 mice infected with P. berghei	HDC^−/− mice were highly resistant to P. berghei infection, with a drastic reduction of brain-infiltrating T cells and decreased expression of adhesion molecules		Beghdadi et al. (21)
			Infected wild-type C57BL/6 mice showed prolonged survival after treatment with antihistamine drugs		Beghdadi et al. (21)
	In the intestines of animals with Plasmodium infection	Mice infected with Plasmodium yoelii	Increased ileal mucosal MCs was positively correlated with elevated parasitemia and ileal interleukin (IL)-4 levels		Chau et al. (22)
		Rhesus macaques infected with Plasmodium fragile	Ileal mastocytosis and increased plasma histamine levels were exhibited		Potts et al. (23)
		Antihistamine treatment of P. yoelii-infected CBA/J mice	MCs and histamine were involved in increased intestinal permeability during Plasmodium infection		Potts et al. (23)
Leishmania spp.	In the skin of patients and animals with Leishmania infection	Patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis caused by Leishmania braziliensis	There was a positive association between the disease duration and MCs count in the skin biopsy		Tuon et al. (24)
		Susceptible (BALB/c) and resistant (C57BL/6 and CBA/T6T6) mice infected with Leishmania major	MC numbers were significantly increased in the upper dermis of BALB/c but not in those of C57BL/6 and CBA/T6T6 mice after L. major infection		Saha et al. (25)
		MC-deficient Kit^W-sh/Kit^W-sh mice infected with L. major	Significantly enhanced lesion progression and lesional parasite burdens were observed, accompanied by significantly decreased levels of IFN-γ and IL-17A		Dudeck et al. (26)
		Dogs infected with Leishmania infantum/chagasi	Dermic inflammatory reaction with many degranulated MCs was observed		Calabrese et al. (27)
		Skin samples from dogs naturally infected with L. infantum	Increased number of MCs in the skin was correlated with clinical progression of canine visceral leishmaniasis		Menezes-Souza et al. (28)
		MC-deficient Kit^W/Kit^W-v mice and normal Kit⁺^/⁺ mice infected with L. major	Increased lesion sizes and lesional parasitic loads and reduced locally infiltrating cells were observed in Kit^W/Kit^W-v mice		Maurer et al. (29)
		C57BL/6 or BALB/c mice infected with L. major		MCs had no role on lesion size development, parasitic load, and immune cell phenotypes during murine cutaneous leishmaniasis	Paul et al. (30)
	In visceral leishmaniasis	Dogs naturally infected with L. infantum	Lower number of MCs was observed in the lamina propria of gastrointestinal tract of the infected dogs		Pinto et al. (31)
	In ocular leishmaniasis	C57BL/10 and BALB/c mice, both susceptible to leishmaniasis, infected with Leishmania amazonensis by intravitreal injection and instillation, respectively	Many intact MCs were presented in the conjunctiva of both strains of mice at 30 days after infection, while degranulated MCs were observed in the conjunctiva of BALB/c mice at 60 days after infection		Calabrese et al. (32)
Trypanosoma spp.	In chagasic megacolon	Patients with Chagas disease caused by Trypanosoma cruzi	The number of tryptase-positive MCs was significantly increased in the lamina propria, muscle layer, or myenteric plexus region		Martins et al. (33)
			A greater MC count and more fibrosis were found in the colon musculature with megacolon compared to that without megacolon		Pinheiro et al. (34)
			Patients with megaesophagus had increased numbers of tryptase-positive MCs		Martins et al. (14)
		Swiss mice infected with T. cruzi Y strain	Significantly increased number of MCs was observed in the muscular layer of mice with chagasic megacolon		Campos et al. (35)
	In Chagas heart disease	CBA mice infected with T. cruzi plus cromolyn treatment	Greater parasitemia, higher mortality, myocarditis, and cardiac damage were found in the infected mice treated with MC stabilizer		Meuser-Batista et al. (36)
	In Chagas heart disease	Patients with chronic Chagas disease	MC chymase density was associated with the intensity of myocardium fibrosis of chronic Chagas disease		Roldão et al. (37)
	In Trypanosoma brucei infection	Rats infected with T. brucei		The levels of MCs in the intestines of T. brucei-infected rats were similar to those of uninfected controls	Gould and Castro (38)
T. gondii	In toxoplasmic encephalitis	A patient with meningoencephalitic toxoplasmosis	Systemic cutaneous and gastrointestinal mastocytosis were observed		Koeppel et al. (39)
	In ocular T. gondii infection	Calomys callosus inoculated with T. gondii RH strain via the conjunctiva	Significantly increased MC number and MC activation were observed in the ocular tissues		Gil et al. (40)
	In oral T. gondii infection	MC-deficient mice (W/W^v) and control +/+ orally infected with cysts of T. gondii ME49 strain	Rapid lethality of T. gondii infection and decreased serum IFN-γ levels were observed in the infected mice in the absence of MCs		Cruz et al. (41)
	In intraperitoneal T. gondii infection	C. callosus infected with T. gondii RH strain	The number of degranulated MCs was significantly higher than that of intact MCs, with a remarkable increase in the influx of neutrophils and Mφ toward the peritoneal cavity		Ferreira et al. (42)
		MC-deficient Kit^W/Kit^W-v mice infected with T. gondii RH strain	The influx of Ly6G⁺ cells toward the peritoneal cavity was significantly reduced compared to control littermates		Del Rio et al. (43)
		Kunming outbred mice infected with T. gondii RH strain	Significantly increased parasite burden, tissue inflammation, and Th1 cytokine mRNA levels were detected in the livers and spleens of infected mice treated with an activator of MC release		Huang et al. (44)
		Kunming outbred mice infected with T. gondii RH strain	Significantly decreased parasite burden and tissue inflammation, and significantly increased Th2 cytokine mRNA levels were detected in the livers and spleens of infected mice treated with an inhibitor of MC release		Huang et al. (44)