Growth of a pure population of mouse mast cells in vitro with conditioned medium derived from concanavalin A-stimulated splenocytes.

A pure population of mast cells was obtained after 14 days of culturing mouse bone marrow cells in the presence of medium derived from concanavalin A-stimulated mouse spleen cells. The cells were characterized as mast cells by their morphologic appearance and histologic staining, by their histamine content (450 ng per 10(6) cells) and by the demonstration of IgE receptors on their surface (150,000--440,000 receptor sites per cell). The histamine content and the number of IgE receptors remained constant for at least 7 wk of culture. These mast cells could be passively sensitized to mice hybridoma IgE. They then released 43% of their histamine content upon incubation with anti-mouse hybridoma IgE.