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6790269 
Journal Article 
DEGRANULATION OF HUMAN BASOPHILS - QUANTITATIVE-ANALYSIS OF HISTAMINE-RELEASE AND DESENSITIZATION, DUE TO A BIVALENT PENICILLOYL HAPTEN 
Dembo, M; Goldstein, B; Sobotka, AK; Lichtenstein, LM; , 
1979 
Yes 
Journal of Immunology
ISSN: 0022-1767
EISSN: 1550-6606 
AMER ASSOC IMMUNOLOGISTS 
BETHESDA 
123 
4 
1864-1872 
English 
90102 
WOS:A1979HM71500072 
The authors present a quantitative model of histamine release from human basophils due to the symmetric bivalent hapten, bis benzylpenicilloyl 1,6 diaminohexane, (BPO)2. The major elements of the model are: (1) The histamine content of basophils is divided into a large number of discrete and quasi-independent 'quanta.' (2) A certain fraction of the quanta in a population of basophils are nonreleasable. (3) Release of the contents of a quanta is a stochastic event. (4) The binding and cross-linking reaction between (BPO)2 and cell surface IgE approaches thermal equilibrium on a time scale that is very short compared to the time scale of histamine release from or desensitization of basophils. (5) The probability per unit time of the release event, P(R), is a function of the extracellular calcium concentration [Ca]ex, and of the number of cross-linked IgG molecules per cell, X(poly). In addition, the functional dependence of P(R) on X(poly) for fixed [Ca]ex is sigmoid, and the dependence of P(R) on [Ca]ex is such that P(R) → 0 as [Ca]ex → 0 for all values of X(poly). (6) Antigen-specific IgE molecules and/or their associated Fc receptors are inactivated at a rate that is a saturable function of X(poly). Furthermore, this process of inactivation is not dependent on the extracellular calcium concentration. The model is tested by carrying out a detailed fitting to histamine release data obtained by using cells from a single donor. Good agreement between theory and experiment is obtained, and all the parameters of the model are determined. The ways in which the model can be extended to include systems more complex than the (BPO)2 system are briefly discussed.