Part I: Introduction & Historical Background

1. Paradigm Shifts in Mast Cell and Basophil Biology and Function: An Emerging View of Immune Regulation in Health and Disease

Ana Olivera and Juan Rivera

Part II: Obtaining the Cells: Purification, Culture, Counting, and Cell Lines

2. Purification of Basophils from Peripheral Human Blood

Franco H. Falcone and Bernhard F. Gibbs

3. Mast Cell Purification Protocols

Jasmine Farrington, Elizabeth P. Seward, and Peter T. Peachell

4. Generation of a Human Allergic Mast Cell Phenotype from CD133+ Stem Cells

Hans Jürgen Hoffmann

5. Generation of Mast Cells from Murine Stem Cell Progenitors

Emily J. Swindle

6. Integration of the Human Dermal Mast Cell into the Organotypic Coculture Skin Model

Jonghui Kim, Sven Guhl, Magda Babina, Torsten Zuberbier, and Metin Artuc

7. The Absolute Basophil Count

Elena Borzova and Clemens A. Dahinden

8. Detection of Mast Cells and Basophils by Immunohistochemistry

Andrew F. Walls and Cornelia Amalinei

9. Mast Cell and Basophil Cell Lines: A Compendium

Egle Passante

Part III: Whole Cells: Identification in Tissues, Signaling Pathways, Gene Silencing, and Reporters

10. Measuring Histamine and Cytokine Release from Basophils and Mast Cells

Bettina M. Jensen, Sidsel Falkencrone, and Per S. Skov

11. Flow Cytometric Allergy Diagnosis: Basophil Activation Techniques

Chris H. Bridts, Vito Sabato, Christel Mertens, Margo M. Hagendorens, Luc S. De Clerck, and Didier G. Ebo

12. Microscopy Assays for Evaluation of Mast Cell Migration and Chemotaxis

Monika Bambousková, Zuzana Hájková, Pavel Dráber, and Petr Dráber

13. Use of Humanized Rat Basophil Leukaemia (RBL) Reporter Systems for Detection of Allergen-Specific IgE Sensitization in Human Serum

Daniel Wan, Xiaowei Wang, Ryosuke Nakamura, Marcos J.C. Alcocer, and Franco H. Falcone

14. Gene Silencing Approaches in Mast Cells and Primary Human Basophils

Vadim V. Sumbayev and Bernhard F. Gibbs

15. Basophil Stimulation and Signaling Pathways

Edward F. Knol and Bernhard F. Gibbs

16. Identification and Immunophenotypic Characterization of Normal and Pathological Mast Cells

José Mário Morgado, Laura Sánchez-Muñoz, Cristina Teodósio, and Luís Escribano

Part IV: Whole Organism: Disease and Knockout Models

17. Identification of Murine Basophils by Flow Cytometry and Histology

Christian Schwartz and David Voehringer

18. Mast Cell Mediated Reactions In Vivo

Vladimir Andrey Giménez-Rivera, Martin Metz, and Frank Siebenhaar