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Figure 1 | Arthritis Research & Therapy

Figure 1

From: Roles of mast cells in the pathogenesis of inflammatory myopathy

Figure 1

Increased numbers of mast cells in the affected muscle in patients with polymyositis (PM). (a) Muscle sections from patients with PM were stained with toluidine blue. Arrowheads indicate mast cells. (b) Muscle sections from patients with PM (n = 12), dermatomyositis (DM) (n = 15), and muscular dystrophy (n = 6) were stained with toluidine blue, and the numbers of mast cells were counted in the specimens. Shown is the number of mast cells/mm2 with median (horizontal bar) in patients with PM, DM, and muscular dystrophy (PM versus DM, P <0.0001; PM versus muscular dystrophy, P = 0.002). (c) Muscle sections from patients with PM were stained with anti-human mast cell tryptase antibody. Correlation of the number of mast cells in muscle tissue with serum creatine kinase (CK) level (n = 12) (d) or histological score (n = 12) (e). Each point represents an individual patient with PM.

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