Gastrointestinal mast cells. New approaches for analyzing their function in vivo.

Mast cells have been implicated in a variety of physiologic or pathologic responses in the gastrointestinal tract; however, the precise contributions of the mast cell to these reactions have been difficult to define. This article discusses general aspects of mast cell biology, outlines new approaches for the analysis of mast cell function in vivo, and reviews recent evidence indicating that mast cells can produce a wide spectrum of multifunctional cytokines.