Dispersed human lung mast cells. Pharmacologic aspects and comparison with human lung tissue fragments.

The present investigation was designed to study the histamine release and pharmacologic characteristics of dispersed human lung mast cells, particularly in comparison with parenchymal tissue fragments. Dispersed human lung mast cells were prepared by enzymatic treatment (yield, 0.5 to 2 x 10(6) mast cells/g tissue). Purity was 1 to 8% (mean, 3.6% +/- 0.7%), and histamine content varied from 2 to 6 pg/cell (mean, 3.6 +/- 0.5 pg/cell). Release, studied using anti-IgE as the stimulus, was relatively rapid, being essentially complete within 15 min when high concentrations of anti-IgE (greater than or equal to 0.3 microgram/ml) were used and was not enhanced by phosphatidyl serine. The concentration of drug required to inhibit histamine release by 50% in dispersed cells for a series of pharmacologic agents, including the beta-adrenergic agent fenoterol, the prostaglandin E2, and the phosphodiesterase inhibitor isobutylmethylxanthine, were 0.1 to 1 microM, 50 microM, and 0.5 mM, respectively; similar results were obtained in simultaneous experiments performed using tissue fragments. Adenosine enhanced release (19 +/- 3.4%) at low concentrations (10 microM) and inhibited release (61 +/- 5.1%) at high concentrations (1mM). The H2 agonist, dimaprit (at 10(-5) to 10(-7) M) and prostaglandin D2 (at 10(-4) to 10(-6) M) had no effect on histamine release, whereas deuterium oxide potentiated histamine release. This study serves to quantitate the pharmacologic effects of several agents on anti-IgE-mediated histamine release from dispersed human lung mast cells and has further suggested that the dispersed cell system is similar to the standard chopped lung system in dose-response relationships, kinetics, and pharmacologic modulation. It also indicates that the enzymatic treatment of the cells does not affect the release characteristics or functional capacity of several different receptors, and that this preparation, therefore, appears suitable as an in vitro human model of mediator release that can be used for the evaluation of pharmacologic agents and for further mast cell purification.