Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
6
pubmed:dateCreated
2004-1-13
pubmed:abstractText
Under physiological conditions, skin mast cells preferentially localize around nerves, blood vessels and hair follicles. This observation, which dates back to Paul Ehrlich, intuitively suggests that these enigmatic, multifacetted protagonists of natural immunity are functionally relevant to many more aspects of tissue physiology than just to the generation of inflammatory and vasodilatory responses to IgE-dependent environmental antigens. And yet, for decades, mainstream-mast cell research has been dominated by a focus on the -undisputedly prominent and important - mast cell functions in type I immune responses and in the pathogenesis and management of allergic diseases. Certainly, it is hard to believe that the very large and rather selectively distributed number of mast cells in normal, uninflamed, non-infected, non-traumatized mammalian skin or mucosal tissue simply hanging around there lazily day and night, just wait for the odd allergen or parasite-associated antigen to come by so the mast cell can finally swing into action. Indeed, the past decade has witnessed a renaissance of mast cell research 'beyond allergy', along with a more systematic exploration of the surprisingly wide range of physiological functions that mast cells may be involved in. The current debate sketches many exciting horizons that have recently come into our vision during this intriguing, ongoing search.
pubmed:grant
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:chemical
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Dec
pubmed:issn
0906-6705
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:volume
12
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
886-910
pubmed:dateRevised
2007-11-14
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
2003
pubmed:articleTitle
What is the physiological function of mast cells?
pubmed:affiliation
Department of Dermatology, Johannes Gutenberg-University of Mainz, Germany. maurer@hautklinik.uni-mainz.de
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S., Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't