Identification of Basophil Granulocytes as a Site of Allergic Histamine Release

Abstract

Human blood was fractionated by differential centrifugation on a Hypaque-Ficoll layer, followed by chromatography on a glass-bead column. Analysis of subfractions of leukocytes thus obtained indicated that essentially all histamine in human leukocytes was associated with basophil granulocytes. Histamine release experiments from the subfractions by anti-IgE and by allergen showed that histamine release was induced by IgE-anti-IgE or allergen-IgE antibody reaction on basophil granulocytes. None of the neutrophils, eosinophils and lymphocytes is involved in the mechanisms of histamine release. It was confirmed that anti-IgG-released histamine from leukocytes of some atopic patients. In spite of the presence of IgG on neutrophils, none of the neutrophils, eosinophils and lymphocytes is essential for anti-IgG-induced histamine release. A minute amount of IgG was demonstrated on basophil granulocytes from both atopic and normal individuals by autoradiography, and evidence was obtained that the reaction of the basophil-bound IgG with anti-IgG is accompanied by histamine release from the cells.