Reviewer's report 
 The role of mast cells in the pathogenesis of pain in chronic pancreatitis Title: 
 1  26 October 2004 Version: Date: 
 markus w bÃ¼chler Reviewer: 
Reviewer's report: 
Title: The role of mast cell in the pathogenesis of pain in chronic pancreatitis 
Specific Comment: 
Willemijntie A Hoogerwerf and colleagues reported in this manuscript about the role of mast cells in 
pain pathogenesis in chronic pancreatitis. The Authors addressed with the present paper a very 
interesting and original topic. They concluded that the number of mast cells is increased in the 
pancreatic autopsy specimens from patients with chronic pancreatitis. They proved the “human” data 
in a TNBS animal model of chronic pancreatitis. The manuscript is well written and to our opinion 
requires minor changes. 
There different minor comments as follow: 
1. The Authors used for the study human tissue from autopsy specimens. The vitality or better the 
immunoreactivity of the tissue must be proved. In fact, it’s well known that autopsy specimens can react in a different way according to autolysis phenomena. 2. It would be important to obtain a pain score from the patients and correlate it with the tissue 
findings to investigate possible relationship between must cell infiltration and clinical data in human 
tissue (VAS scale) 3. The Authors must consider to add a group of patients undergoing surgery because of chronic painful pancreatitis to obtain fresh tissue specimens. 
4. The Authors must include a table where they specify how many hours after dead the tissue 
specimens were processed for the experiments. 5. Concerning the animal experiments, it must be clear when the animals were sacrificed after the induction of pancreatitis: i.e. 7 day, 14 day. 
6. The discussion is sometimes too speculative, in the reality we do not know whether mast cell 
degranulation induce pain or neurothophins induce pain and mast cell degranulation. To the reviewer 
opinion this argument must be clearly stated. 
 Accept after minor essential revisions What next?: 
 An article of importance in its field Level of interest: 
 Acceptable Quality of written English: 
 No Statistical review: 
Reviewer's report 
 The role of mast cells in the pathogenesis of pain in chronic pancreatitis Title: 
 1  26 October 2004 Version: Date: 
 markus w bÃ¼chler Reviewer: 
Reviewer's report: 
Title: The role of mast cell in the pathogenesis of pain in chronic pancreatitis 
Specific Comment: 
Willemijntie A Hoogerwerf and colleagues reported in this manuscript about the role of mast cells in 
pain pathogenesis in chronic pancreatitis. The Authors addressed with the present paper a very 
interesting and original topic. They concluded that the number of mast cells is increased in the 
pancreatic autopsy specimens from patients with chronic pancreatitis. They proved the “human” data 
in a TNBS animal model of chronic pancreatitis. The manuscript is well written and to our opinion 
requires minor changes. 
There different minor comments as follow: 
1. The Authors used for the study human tissue from autopsy specimens. The vitality or better the 
immunoreactivity of the tissue must be proved. In fact, it’s well known that autopsy specimens can react in a different way according to autolysis phenomena. 2. It would be important to obtain a pain score from the patients and correlate it with the tissue 
findings to investigate possible relationship between must cell infiltration and clinical data in human 
tissue (VAS scale) 3. The Authors must consider to add a group of patients undergoing surgery because of chronic painful pancreatitis to obtain fresh tissue specimens. 
4. The Authors must include a table where they specify how many hours after dead the tissue 
specimens were processed for the experiments. 5. Concerning the animal experiments, it must be clear when the animals were sacrificed after the induction of pancreatitis: i.e. 7 day, 14 day. 
6. The discussion is sometimes too speculative, in the reality we do not know whether mast cell 
degranulation induce pain or neurothophins induce pain and mast cell degranulation. To the reviewer 
opinion this argument must be clearly stated. 
 Accept after minor essential revisions What next?: 
 An article of importance in its field Level of interest: 
 Acceptable Quality of written English: 
 No Statistical review: 
Please review this paper.
user
Reviewer's report 
 The role of mast cells in the pathogenesis of pain in chronic pancreatitis Title: 
 1  26 October 2004 Version: Date: 
 markus w bÃ¼chler Reviewer: 
Reviewer's report: 
Title: The role of mast cell in the pathogenesis of pain in chronic pancreatitis 
Specific Comment: 
Willemijntie A Hoogerwerf and colleagues reported in this manuscript about the role of mast cells in 
pain pathogenesis in chronic pancreatitis. The Authors addressed with the present paper a very 
interesting and original topic. They concluded that the number of mast cells is increased in the 
pancreatic autopsy specimens from patients with chronic pancreatitis. They proved the “human” data 
in a TNBS animal model of chronic pancreatitis. The manuscript is well written and to our opinion 
requires minor changes. 
There different minor comments as follow: 
1. The Authors used for the study human tissue from autopsy specimens. The vitality or better the 
immunoreactivity of the tissue must be proved. In fact, it’s well known that autopsy specimens can react in a different way according to autolysis phenomena. 2. It would be important to obtain a pain score from the patients and correlate it with the tissue 
findings to investigate possible relationship between must cell infiltration and clinical data in human 
tissue (VAS scale) 3. The Authors must consider to add a group of patients undergoing surgery because of chronic painful pancreatitis to obtain fresh tissue specimens. 
4. The Authors must include a table where they specify how many hours after dead the tissue 
specimens were processed for the experiments. 5. Concerning the animal experiments, it must be clear when the animals were sacrificed after the induction of pancreatitis: i.e. 7 day, 14 day. 
6. The discussion is sometimes too speculative, in the reality we do not know whether mast cell 
degranulation induce pain or neurothophins induce pain and mast cell degranulation. To the reviewer 
opinion this argument must be clearly stated. 
 Accept after minor essential revisions What next?: 
 An article of importance in its field Level of interest: 
 Acceptable Quality of written English: 
 No Statistical review: 
assistant