Relationships between neural crest cells and mast cells in newborn mice.

Histamine and EDTA injected to new born mice within 24 h after birth caused mastocytosis, cell death of neural crest cells and the appearance of mast cells in the specific sites where the neural crest cells were present. Mastocytes were composed of atypical cell such as round cells and spindle shaped cells in newborn mice treated with histamine and EDTA. The calcium perturbant in the histamine and EDTA may have caused these phenomena. Ca++ may be an essential conditional element in the differentiation to mast cells from neural crest cells.