The Mast Cell-Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor Interplay at the Host-Microbe Interface

Figure 1

Schematic depiction of the interactions between mast cells and L. reuteri. The panel shows that microbial AhR ligands might influence mast cells (MC) activity via AhR. The panel also shows that MCs seem to be required for maintaining the L. reuteri pool size, thus supporting the hypothesis of a cross-talk between MCs and L. reuteri whereby MCs regulate the abundance of those microbes that produce the AhR ligands that in turn sustain their activity. Details are described in the text.