We studied intracellular free, bound, and sequestered calcium in rat mast cells after various stimulations. The use of a fluorescent probe combined with digitized imaging on individual living cells demonstrated transient increases of free Ca2+ in the micromolar range. The use of histochemical techniques (K pyroantimonate and anhydrous fmtion), together with X-ray microanalysis, energy electron-loss spectroscopy, and electron spectroscopic imaging, revealed large amounts of stored calcium within the cells (in the millimolar range). Chelation experiments and stimulations enabled us to identify at least two pools of bound calcium which exhibited different dynamic behaviors. Stimulation in the pres-