Urticaria 1990's Abstracts of a symposium held at Robinson College, Cambridge, UK, 14-16 December 1994.

The article presents abstracts of a symposium held at Robinson College, Cambridge, Great Britain from December 14-16, 1994. Functional heterogeneity of human mast cells was discussed during the symposium. Mast cells heterogeneity is well defined in the rodent, where two distinct phenotypes have been identified. Releasability is a term that has been applied to several notable features of the response of human basophils and mast cells to receptor-mediated stimulation. Interest in this area comes from several directions. These include interest in whether differences in cellular sensitivity to simulation.