AUTHOR=Sabaté San José Alba , Petersen Petur Henry 

TITLE=Absence of meningeal mast cells in the Mitf mutant mouse

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience

VOLUME=Volume 18 - 2024

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cellular-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fncel.2024.1337621

DOI=10.3389/fncel.2024.1337621

ISSN=1662-5102

ABSTRACT=Mast cells (MC) are located in the meninges of the central nervous system (CNS) where they play key roles in the immune response. MC deficient mice are advantageous in delineating the role of MC in the immune response in vivo. Here we illustrate that a mutation in microphthalmia associated transcription factor (Mitf) affects meningeal MC number in a dosage dependent manner. C57BL/6J Mitf null mice lack meningeal MC completely whereas heterozygous mice have on average 25% fewer MC. Mitf heterozygous mice might be a valuable tool to study the role of MC in the meninges.