First, histamines (sic) do not come in twos or threes. Histamine is a single molecular entity (C5 H9 N3), and, although we have many anti histamines, one would no more refer to histamines than to acetylcholines.
Second, although the process of degranulation from some (but not all) mast cells could well be termed explosive in its rapidity and extent, the cells do not "literally explode" when stimulated by antigen. Mast cell mediator release is a highly specific process, signaled by the cross-linking of IgE receptors on the cell surface and transduced by a number of increasingly well-characterized biochemical mechanisms. The cells are not kamikazes, but regranulate to be stimulated again. It is precisely for these reasons that mast cells have provided a valuable model for the study of receptor-linked exocytosis in general.
Sometimes it seems as if mast cells "get no respect" among the more visible circulating players of the ...
