Histamine release and surface CD200R1 staining as sensitive methods for assessing murine mast cell activation

► Histamine release is more sensitive for the measurement of murine mast cell activation than β-hexosaminidase. ► Surface CD200R1 expression can be utilized as a murine mast cell activation marker by flow cytometry. ► Histamine release and flow cytometry for CD200R1 can be performed on unpurified peritoneal cells. ► These approaches require few cells, so they are ideal for investigating mast cell activation in animal models of disease.