Pavlovian Conditioning of Rat Mucosal Mast Cells to Secrete Rat Mast Cell Protease II

Antigen (egg albumin) injections, which stimulate mucosal mast cells to secrete mediators, were paired with an audiovisual cue. After reexposure to the audiovisual cue, a mediator (rat mast cell protease II) was measured with a sensitive and specific assay. Animals reexposed to only the audiovisual cue released a quantity of protease not significantly different from animals reexposed to both the cue and the antigen; these groups released significantly more protease than animals that had received the cue and antigen in a noncontingent manner. The results support a role for the central nervous system as a functional effector of mast cell function in the allergic state.