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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2018 Oct 1.
Published in final edited form as: Gastroenterology. 2017 Jul 13;153(4):948–960.e3. doi: 10.1053/j.gastro.2017.06.051

Fig 6.

Fig 6

Mucosal mast cell (MC) activation: tryptase, ultrastructure and degranulation in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and healthy control (HC) subjects. (A) Expression of MC-tryptase (mw 31–36 kDa) and β-actin as loading control. Lysates from colonic biopsies of 32 women with IBS and 15 HCs were analyzed by Western Blot. Panels show a representative blot from 5 IBS subjects and 5 HCs. (B) Degranulation of MCs at baseline of IBS (n=19) and HC (n=8) (C) Degranulation of MC in biopsies from IBS patients (n=5) and HCs (n=4) after incubation with buffer only (vehicle), Salmonella, Salmonella+vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) receptor blocker (anti-VPACs), or Salmonella+ketotifen. (D) Micrographs of MCs from IBS and HC from the different experimental groups. Note signs of MC-activation such as irregular plasma membrane with emission of pseudopodes (black arrow) and piecemeal degranulation (black arrow head). Fusions of granules are predominantly detected in MCs from the IBS-group (white arrow).