Figure 3.

Degranulation of mast cells (MCs) is significantly reduced in aged human skin. May–Grünwald–Giemsa (MGG) staining was performed to assess degranulation of MCs in vivo. Representative photomicrographs of (a) young and (b) aged skin. Grey arrows identify degranulating MCs; black arrows identify quiescent MCs. (c) When quantified, there were significantly more MCs in the papillary dermis of the aged group but with (d) significantly less degranulation (n = 5 per group). **P < 0·01 using the unpaired two‐tailed Mann–Whitney U‐test.