Migrating mast cells in the gallbladder epithelium of cattle and sheep. A comparative morphologic and histochemical study.

This paper reports the existence of mast cells in an epithelial location in the gallbladders of both cattle and sheep. The histochemical studies performed on these cells showed that their cytoplasmic granules contain heparin and biogenic amines in both species. Optical- and electron microscopic observations demonstrated that, in both species, mast cells from the connective tissue of the gallbladder diapedese across the basal lamina and migrate through the epithelium all the way to the luminal surface, and that a degranulation process takes place during this migration. The biochemical results showed a correlation between the number of mast cells present in the epithelium and the amount of heparin detected in the different regions of the gallbladders of the species studied. Unusually high contents of heparin were found in both cattle and sheep gallbladders, suggesting that they should be studied as possible commercial sources of this polimer.