[CITATION][C] Histamine release by compounds of simple chemical structure

WDM Paton - Pharmacological Reviews, 1957 - ASPET
WDM Paton
Pharmacological Reviews, 1957ASPET
Several stages mark the development of our knowledge about histamine and its actions in
the body. First came its isolation, and the description of its phar-macological effects, akin on
the one hand to those produced by “shock”, and on the other to certain anaphylactic
reactions. Following this came the dis-covery that histamine was a constituent of normal
tissues, that it was released in sensitization reactions, and that it, or something very like it,
was concerned in one of the fundamental responses of the skin-the “triple response” of …
Several stages mark the development of our knowledge about histamine and its actions in the body. First came its isolation, and the description of its phar-macological effects, akin on the one hand to those produced by “shock”, and on the other to certain anaphylactic reactions. Following this came the dis-covery that histamine was a constituent of normal tissues, that it was released in sensitization reactions, and that it, or something very like it, was concerned in one of the fundamental responses of the skin-the “triple response” of Thomas Lewis. Along with this went a steadily increasing knowledge of its distribution in the body, and an expanding study of possible roles in controlling the contraction of various smooth muscles or the secretion of gastric juice. A further impetus to this field of study came with the discovery and development of the antihistamines, which allowed, amongst their other uses, an approach to the physiology of histamine similar to that provided, for instance, by the use of atropine in unravelling autonomic physiology. But despite this accumulating experience, to which knowledge about histamine metabolism was also added, histamine still remained somewhat of a physiological puzzle-a highly active and widely distributed tissue constituent to which no physiological role could be attributed with certainty. A new approach became possible when means became available for reducing the amounts of histamine in the tissues by the substances now known as histamine liberators or histamine releasers. It is true that substances capable of freeing histamine from its attachment in mammalian tissues have long been known. But these had been for the most part materials such as venoms, pro-
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