Figure 2

Mast cells origin and differentiation. It was initially suggested that Mast cells derive from T lymphocytes, fibroblasts or macrophages, but the current general consensus suggests that these immune cells originate from pluripotent hemopoietic stem cells in bone marrow, from where they are released into the blood as progenitors before they undergo terminal differentiation by invading connective or mucosal tissue as morphologically unidentifiable Mast cells precursors and then differentiating into phenotypically identifiable Mast cells.