MAST-CELLS IN PATHOLOGICAL AND SURGICAL SCARS

Aim-To investigate the role of mast cells in surgical and pathological scar reactions by their identification and quantification using immun ohistochemistry.Methods-Surgical scars and pathological scar reactions were stained immunohistochemically for tryptase to identify mast cell s. These were quantified in the scar tissue and surrounding dermis. St atistical analyses were performed to test the hypothesis that mast cel l numbers were different in the varying types of scar reaction. Result s-A significant difference was found between the mean number of mast c ells in periocular scars compared with keloids, hypertrophic scars, an d surgical scars from other sites (p<0.05). No significant difference was found in mast cell numbers between the other scar types either wit hin the lesions or surrounding dermis. There were significantly more m ast cells in the dermis than in the scar tissue itself, except for the small group of periocular scars. The ratio of mast cells in the lesio n compared with the dermis was not significantly different between the scar types, except for the periocular scars. Conclusions-Mast cell nu mbers are similar in and around keloid, hypertrophic, and surgical sca rs. The increased number of mast cells at periocular scar sites was co ntrary to expectation since keloids are rare at this site. Absolute ma st cell numbers may not be an accurate measure of tissue concentration s of active mast cell products. Further comparisons between immunologi cal characteristics of keloid and periocular scars may elucidate speci fic immunological abnormalities of keloid scars, and this has implicat ions for the development of immunotherapy.