Despite increasing evidence that basophils can infiltrate into inflamed tissues during allergic reactions, determination of the extent of infiltration and elucidation of their role in allergic disease has been frustrated by the lack of reliable means for detecting this cell type in tissues. In the present study, we report on a new monoclonal antibody specific for basophils and on the initial characterization of the antigen it recognizes. Basophils were isolated from peripheral blood by Percoll density gradient centrifugation and a positive-selection immunomagnetic procedure and injected into mice to produce monoclonal antibodies. A hybridoma clone, designated BB1, secreted antibody of the IgG2a isotype; this antibody bound selectively to basophils on immunocytochemistry but did not react with any other cell type or tissue structure, although it did stain a proportion of cells from the basophilic cell line KU812F. In sections of mixed populations of peripheral blood cells, similar numbers of cells stained with Alcian blue dye and BB1 over a wide range of basophil purity. BB1 antibody was effective in identifying basophils in sections of mixed cells or in tissues after fixation with ethanol, Carnoy's solution, or formalin. Staining of basophils with BB1 gave a granular appearance, although flow cytometry indicated that some antigen was also present on the surface of the cell. Activation of these cells with anti-IgE antibody or with the calcium ionophore A23187 provoked release of the antigen in parallel with that of histamine. BB1 antibody did not, by itself, stimulate histamine release. The molecular mass of the antigen was determined on Hedrick-Smith gels to be 124+/-11 kd. This new monoclonal antibody will be a valuable experimental tool in future studies, allowing the reliable detection of basophils in tissues of patients with allergic and chronic inflammatory disease; in addition, the antigen it identifies has potential as a unique marker of basophil activation.