[Mast cell: it's significance in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid cytologic diagnosis of bronchial asthma and interstitial lung disease].

The analysis of mast cells in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) is rarely performed in routine diagnostic protocol. The BAL mast cells are rather difficult to be identified due to their paucity and technical problems with fixation and staining methods. The present study was carried out in order to characterize quantitatively and morphologically of mast cells obtained in bronchoalveolar lavage from 38 patients with several lung disorders. The percentage of mast cells ranged from: 0.0-0.6% (aspirin intolerant asthmatics), 0.1-1.8% (aspirin tolerant asthmatics), 0.9-1.8% (sarcoidosis), 1.5-2.0% (fibrosis), 0.04-0.08% (normals). There were statistically significant differences in the mast cells count between tested disease groups. Lung mast cells exhibited heterogeneity of size, shape, intensity of staining and degree of degranulation. Bronchoalveolar lavage is a very interesting and suitable model for the study of human lung mast cells. These cells should be analysed because of their clinical importance in pathogenesis of several lung disorders. We recommend, Carnoy's solution as a fixative and 0.5% solution of Toluidine blue (pH-0.5 with prolongation of staining time to 5-7 days at 4 degrees C) as a dye for routine diagnostic method of BAL mast cells identification.