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Notes: Conclusion No correlation between histamine content of corpus mucosa and maximum response to pentagastrin existed in normal human subjects and in patients suffering from gastric diseases. Normal histamine concentrations were found in duodenal ulcer patients who did not show any reduction in acid output despite complete vagotomy. A relatively low mucosal histamine content was determined in a patient with proven Zollinger-Ellison syndrome. However one year after complete selective-gastric vagotomy the corpus mucosal histamine concentrations were considerably increased. This is the first case in the literature that the histamine content of the human gastric mucosa was altered.

Notes: Abstract Acute haemorrhagic lesions in the oesophagus, stomach and duodenum (‘stress ulcers’) occur relatively often under clinical conditions and are always dangerous to the patient (lethality rate about 70%). Since conservative and surgical treatment are without significant success up to now, prevention by adaptation to stressors or by administration of drugs seems mandatory. An improved technique for producing acute gastric lesions in rats by immobilization and a new method for assessing this disease in the animals is presented in this communication. High precision is obtained within a single experimental series especially from day to day. Since histamine was suggested to be involved in the pathogenesis of stress ulcer disease, (+)-catechin, a rather specific inhibitor of specific histidine decarboxylase from rat stomach, was tested in immobilized rats. It prevented the formation of acute gastric lesions by 80% in seven series of experiments lasting for half a year. Since the drug has low toxicity in man, it is recommended for clinical trials.

Notes: Conclusion All plasma substitutes in clinical use caused analphylactoid reactions in man and dog, but histamine release into the plasma or whole blood was related to them only in the case of Haemaccel. Thus a rational treatment or prophylaxis of this clinical hazard by H1- and H2-receptor antagonists can be attempted only in the case of Haemaccel [5].

Notes: Abstract Several preparations of Cremophor El®, several of other non-ionic detergents and several components of Cremophor El were tested for their histamine-releasing capacity in dogs. Lutensol AP 10 and a derivative of 1,2-propylenglycol were ineffective, but showed excellent properties as detergents. Thus the histamine-releasing capacity was not necessarily combined with the tenside effect of the surfactants. Oleic acid found in Tween 80 as well as in Cremophor El seems to be the most effective constituent, but the alcohol seems also to be important for the histamine-releasing capacity. The development of a non-toxic solubilizer for lipophilic drugs seems of considerable clinical interest.

Notes: Abstract The effects of the H1-receptor antagonist dimethpyrindene and the H2-receptor antagonist burimamide on circulatory and respiratory parameters and on plasma histamine levels were tested in 21 mongrel dogs. Both drugs released histamine. The incidence for this effect was 10/11 in the case of dimethpyrindene and 5/10 in the case of burimamide. Following dimethpyrindene all animals showed arterial hypotension, pulmonal hypertension, decrease in peripheral resistance and hyperventilation. The portal venous pressure was increased in dogs reacting by a histamine release. Following burimamide both an initial arterial hypertension and a subsequent hypotension were observed the latter being more pronounced in the group with histamine release. In this group the portal venous pressure raised considerably. In the non-reacting animals cardiac output was elevated, probably due to a release of catecholamines. It seemed remarkable that the effect of exogenous histamine on portal venous pressure was completely blocked by dimethpyrindene, but not the action of histamine released by the drug itself. It is concluded that the effects of antihistaminic drugs on possibly histamine-induced physiological and pathophysiological processes should be interpreted very carefully as far as their specificity is concerned.

Notes: Conclusion Due to the large number of parameters in this communication only one dose of histamine was investigated. This dose (6 μg/kg) was chosen because it caused short-acting but remarkable effects in the circulatory system and induced plasma histamine levels as high as found after administration of histamine releasers [8]. With this dose of histamine it could be shown that several effects of histamine in the circulatory system of dogs depended on the actual plasma histamine levels. H1- and H2-receptor antagonists applied separately from each other are able to block only few histamine effects in the circulatory system. They influence the circulatory reactions to histamine not only by acting on the receptors, but also by altering the actual plasma histamine levels.

Notes: Abstract Histamine concentrations in canine whole blood and plasma were determined under several pharmacological, pathophysiological, and clinical conditions, using fluorometric methods. The specificity of the assay for whole-blood histamine was investigated by comparing 3 purification procedures for the isolation of histamine from whole blood including butanol extraction (Shore), ion-exchange chromatography on Dowex 50 W-X 8, and the combination of these 2 methods (Lorenz). Histamine in whole blood was identified in analytical and preparative samples by fluorescence spectra, thin-layer chromatography, degradation by diamine oxidase from pig kidney and inactivation by histamine methyltransferase from guinea-pig brain as well as by biological tests on the isolated guinea-pig ileum. Since butanol extraction resulted in significantly higher ‘histamine’ values than the other two purification procedures, ion-exchange chromatography on Dowex 50 was recommended as the method of choice for the specific determination of histamine in dog's whole blood. Normal values of histamine concentrations in canine plasma were tentatively estimated. They depended on the time between pretreatment of the animals (anaesthesia, operation) and the collection of blood and showed an approximately logarithmic normal distribution. The median, the lower/upper quartiles and the range of the plasma histamine levels obtained 30 minutes after the end of pretreatment were 0.2, 0–0.4 and 0–1.2 ng/ml, respectively. Nearly 50% of the values were zero (below 0.1 ng according to the sensitivity of the method), only 1% of them exceeded slightly 1 ng/ml. Thus histamine release by drugs or by other medical treatments was only stated, when plasma histamine levels exceeded 1 ng/ml and decreased in a way to give an elimination curve of approximately first-order kinetics (Bateman function). Histamine concentrations in dog's whole blood showed approximately a logarithmic normal distribution. The median, lower/upper quartiles and range were 47, 34/75 and 13–209 ng/ml respectively. The histamine levels in the whole blood of four circulatory regions did not show any significant differences. The plasma histamine concentrations in the portal vein were slightly higher than in the hepatic veins. The injection of exogenous histamine and the concomitant determination of plasma and whole-blood histamine levels in four circulatory regions showed that the plasma histamine determination was the more sensitive method for measuring histamine elimination curves than the whole-blood histamine assay. The elimination of exogenous histamine administered intravenously was influenced by several drugs including inhibitors of histamine inactivation and histamine receptor antagonists. Aminoguanidine and the H2-receptor antagonist burimamide slowed down the disappearance of histamine from the plasma, the H1-receptor antagonist dimethpyrindene enhanced it, but amodiaquine had no significant effects. Dimethpyrindene and burimamide were capable of releasing histamine in dogs, in some cases to a considerable extent. The plasma substitute Haemaccel®, a chemically modified gelatin, released histamine in dogs. Using batch 3000, from 27 animals investigated, 15 animals showed elevated plasma histamine levels and a hypotensive blood pressure response, whereas in 12 of the dogs it did not show an effect on these parameters. The plasma histamine levels at the time of maximum hypotension showed an approximately logarithmic normal distribution. This frequency distribution in combination with the varying incidence of anaphylactoid reactions depending on the batches used seemed very important for the interpretation of clinical reactions to Haemaccel in human test persons and patients. By histamine determinations in plasma and whole blood of several circulatory regions and in various tissues before and after infusion of Haemaccel it could be demonstrated that the sites of histamine release by Haemaccel in dogs were especially the skin of the upper hemisphere of the body and the liver, whereas the gastro-intestinal tract took up histamine from the circulation. These numerous results under various experimental conditions may be considered as an evidence for the high quality and reliability of the method to study histamine release in the whole animal or in human subjects by evaluating histamine elimination curves in plasma.

Notes: Abstract In 9 dogs, whose maximum gastric acid response to pentagastrin was evoked by 6 μg/kg, the total gastric secretion as well as the peak gastric secretion was enhanced by amodiaquine. The optimum dose of this antimalarial drug was 2 mg/kg, whereas 0.25 mg/kg were without effect and 3 mg/kg reduced already the augmentation of gastric secretion by this substance. The increase in acid output by amodiaquine was greater than that in volume. The total secretion was more enhanced than the peak secretion, which means a longer duration of the amodiaquine potentiated gastric secretion elicited by pentagastrin, than that without application of amodiaquine contrary to that stimulated by exogenous histamine. Amodiaquine itself did not stimulate gastric acid secretion, in contrast to prostigmine and carbachol. Thus amodiaquine seemed not to enhance gastric secretion by a direct or indirect parasympathomimetic action. The question whether amodiaquine acted on gastric secretion in a specific way and not by parasympathomimetic effects, led to investigations in several exocrine glands. In salivary glands, amodiaquine did neither stimulate the secretion in all doses investigated nor did it enhance the pilocarpine and acetylcholine induced salivation with any significance and regularity. Also the pancreatic and biliary secretion was neither stimulated by amodiaquine nor was the secretin induced secretion of the pancreas and liver augmented by amodiaquine. Thus the enhancing effect of this drug on the histamine and pentagastrin stimulated gastric secretion was very likely specific for the gastric mucosa and not due to a parasympathomimetic action of the drug. In contrast to the findings in various exocrine glands of the gastrointestinal tract, the arterial hypotension following the i.v. injection of acetylcholine was increased specifically by a preceeding i.v. injection of amodiaquine, whereas the equi-effective actions of histamine, serotonin and bradykinin as well as the hypertension by epinephrine and norepinephrine were not influenced by amodiaquine. This specific effect of the antimalarial drug very probably was not caused by an inhibition of the unspecific choline esterase in the blood. Since in exocrine glands no evidence could be found for a parasympathomimetic action or other modes of action of amodiaquine, it seemed probable that amodiaquine potentiated the histamine and pentagastrin stimulated gastric secretion by an inhibition of histamine methyltransferase in vivo.

Notes: Conclusion These results indicate that even small alterations of the incubation procedure witho-phthaldialdehyde may considerably influence the specificity of the fluorometric histamine assay. Tests for identification of this amine are always necessary in studies on histamine in body fluids or following the administration of drugs.