Mast Cells of the Human Pineal Gland

Abstract

The goal of this work was to evaluate the efficiency of mast cell identification by different histochemical and immunohistochemical methods and to determine the features of their localization in the human pineal gland. Mast cells were found to be an essential component of the human pineal gland at any age. According to our data, the number of mast cells in the pineal gland increased with age. Mast cells were mostly located in the pineal stroma and did not tend to associate with concrements, cysts, or melanin accumulations. Mast cells in the pineal gland were predominantly non-degranulating, which indicated their inactive state. The detectability of mast cells in the pineal gland depended significantly on the used staining technique. The largest number of mast cells was revealed by tryptase immunohistochemical assay, which should be used to accurately determine the population of mast cells of the pineal gland.