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Variations in the Mast Cell Population of Skin and Bone Marrow in Magnesium-Deprived Rats. the Influence of Sex Hormones^1,2,

Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada, K1N 9A9

Comparative counts of Alcian Blue-Basic Fuchsin-stained mast cells of the facial skin and bone marrow have been made in young rats of different sexes and strains, fed a diet deficient in magnesium (0.8 to 1 mg/100 g dry weight) for 4 weeks. Normal rats fed a magnesium-supplemented diet (65 mg/100 g dry weight) had about three times as many mast cells in the tibial metaphysis as in the facial skin. In both males and females fed the Mg-deficient diet, the marrow mast cells increased five to six times, while their number was concomitantly decreased in the skin. The marrow mast cells became also polymorphic, an indication of a possible preferential renewal site. Gonadectomy in the males had no effect on the above pattern. The administration of large doses of testosterone to males and estradiol to females depressed the mast cell population increase in the bone marrow and at the same time, moderated the loss of skin mast cells.

KEY WORDS: • mast cells • bone marrow • skin • magnesium deficiency

¹ Supported by the Medical Research Council of Canada (Grant MT 799).

² Presented in part at the 90th Annual Meeting of the American Association of Anatomists, Detroit, Michigan, May 2nd to May 5th, 1977.

Manuscript received 23 February 1977.