Development of human mast cells in vitro

Nucleated cells of human umbilical cord blood were cocultured with mouse skin-derived 3T3 fibroblasts. After 7-8 weeks in culture, when the number of the other hematopoietic cells declined, metachromatic granule-containing mononuclear cells appeared in the culture, and the number of the cells increased up to 12 weeks. After 11-14 weeks in culture, the metachromatic mononuclear cells comprised a substantial portion of the cultured cells. These cells contained 1.8-2 μg of histamine per 10⁶ cells and bore receptors for IgE. All of the cells contained tryptase in their granules. Electron microscopic analysis showed that these cells were mature human mast cells, clearly different from the basophilic granulocytes or eosinophils that arise in a variety of circumstances in cord blood cell cultures. Most of the cultured mast cells expressed some granules with regular crystalline arrays and contained both tryptase and chymase, and thus resembled human skin mast cells.