Fig 1: Effects of iron supplementation on IgE-mediated mast cell degranulation, cytokine production, and total granule content. A. Supplementation with iron decreased degranulation of primary BMMC by 30% (*indicates p = 0.01). Data shown is the mean ± SEM of 4 experiments. B, C. In duplicate experiments, iron supplementation decreased mast cell production of TNF, MCP-1, and IL-6 by 94%, 29%, and 27%, respectively. An MTS assay confirmed continued viability of the BMMC (not shown). D, E. RBL-2H3 mast cells showed a dose-dependent reduction in total granule contents per cell with iron supplementation, as indicated by ß-hexoseaminidase activity following lysis with Triton X-100 (panel D) and flow cytometric analysis of side scatter (panel E). Data shown represents the mean ± SEM of 3 - 4 independent experiments, each conducted in triplicate. *indicates p=0.02.