Is mast cell staining required to count mast cells?

[dannysmom]

Hi ..
My son had a colonoscopy last month. I had requested mast cell staining to check for mastocytic enterocolitis. The doctor thought it was a good idea and said they would do it. After the pathologist tests were completed, he told me over the phone that there were mast cells present but they were considered in normal amounts. After receiving copies of the pathologist report, there wasn't any mention of mast cells. I called and asked to get a copy of the mast cell staining results. Today, I received a fax from the doctor that basically said, as I had told you the number of mast cells were considered within normal limits, so the pathologist did not think it was necessary to do the special stain.

Well ... maybe that is true, but isn't the special stain needed to get an accurate count of mast cells?

I am trying to research this as well ... but thought I try here too.

Thanks for any help!

 

[2thFairy]

I don't readily know the answer. It was necessary to use stain when my dog was diagnosed with mast cell cancer. The vet showed me the slides (very cool, by the way), but I don't recall if any mast cells were visible before he added the stain or not.

I haven't found an answer yet, but I will keep researching it as well.

 

[handle]

I believe you can only get a very rough idea of mast cell numbers without any staining and without using fairly sophisticated counting techniques. They are difficult to detect reliably in tissue samples.
In order to calculate how many mast cells have been activated (by release of their granules) staining is needed.
It would be interesting to ask the doctor what method was used by the pathologist to do the count (i.e. visually under microscope, or with computerized counting.)

 

[DustyKat]

David, do you know the answer to this???

Dusty. xxx

 

[David]

Samples have to be immunohistochemically stained for mast cell tryptase (MCT) if specifically looking for mastocytic enterocolitis and this is normally not done.

Here is the study where mastocytic enterocolitis was originally termed to source my statement.

 

[my little penguin]

Here a paper stating they will not show up without the special stain.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3033552/

Mast cells in gastrointestinal disease
Gastroenterology and hepatology
Dec 6 2010