Ethanol-induced acute gastric injury in mast cell-deficient and congenic normal mice: Evidence that mast cells can augment the area of damage

The authors used stereomicroscopy and planimetry to measure the area of glandular stomach mucosa acutely injured by oral ethanol in mast cell-deficient and congenic normal (+/+) mice, and examined the damaged areas in 1-μ sections. Ethanol caused degranulation and/or disruption of gastric mucosal mast cells, and, at certain concentrations of ethanol, mast cell-deficient WBB6F₁-W/W(v) or WCB6F₁-Sl/Sl(d) mice developed significantly less (43-90% less) acute gastric injury than either congenic +/+ mice or WBB6F₁-W/W(v) mice whose mast cells were restored by bone marrow transplantation from WBB6F₁-+/+ mice. Nevertheless, ethanol produced detectable, and in some cases substantial, gastric injury even in the complete absence of mast cells. Thus, ethanol can produce some damage to the gastric mucosa independently of mast cells. But these data suggest that under certain circumstances mast cells can augment the area of acute gastric injury induced by ethanol.