Mast Cells Exert Anti-Inflammatory Effects in an IL10^−/− Model of Spontaneous Colitis

Figure 1

Inflammation is exacerbated in the absence of mast cells and prevented by reconstitution with bone marrow-derived mast cells. Representative H&E-stained paraffin sections of the colon of 14-to-16-week-old wild-type C57Bl/6 (a), IL10^−/− (b), mast cell-deficient colitis prone double knockout (DKO) (c), and DKO mice reconstituted with wild-type mast cells (DKO-rMC) (d). Colitis scores (e) and colonic mucosal height (f) are higher in DKO mice compared to IL10^−/−, and mast cell reconstitution restores the colitis to the level of IL10^−/− mice. Toluidine blue-stained sections confirming the reconstitution of tissue MCs (arrows) (g). WT: ; IL10^−/−: ; DKO: ; DKO-rMC: . , ; , versus DKO.

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