On the nature of the presumed receptor for IgE on mast cells. III. Kinetics of the blocking of the PCA reaction by cell-free particulate preparations from rat peritoneal mast cells and effect of pH and calcium concentration on the reaction.

The 'binding' of IgE to particulate preparations derived from sonicated purified rat mast cells was measured by the blocking of PCA titrations of the supernatant solutions from incubations with such preparations. It was found that the PCA blocking reaction was inhibited by the addition of calcium ion to the incubations. The blocking reaction was strongly dependent on the pH of the incubations, being maximal at pH values lower than 5-0. The blocking reaction proceeded in a linear manner for at least 3 h provided that no more than 70 percent of the amount of IgE initially supplied had been removed by the particulate fraction. Only mast cell-derived preparations were capable of effecting PCA blocking.