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Mast cell

Etymology:

From German Mastzelle: "feeding cell or well-fed cell," coined in 1878 by immunologist Paul Ehrlich, so named because under a microscope you can see multiple cytoplasmic granules, which were thought to be a nutrient that the mast cells had "eaten."

Definition:

A resident cell of connective tissue that contains many granules rich in histamine and heparin (which were initially thought to have been nutrients that the mast cells had been feeding on).


Source: Blank U, Falcone FH, Nilsson G. The history of mast cell and basophil research - some lessons learnt from the last century. Allergy. 2013 Sep;68(9):1093-101. doi: 10.1111/all.12197. Epub 2013 Aug 30. PMID: 23991682.

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