Histamine determination in the blood during the immediate asthmatic response (IAR).

Abstract

These results suggest the following conclusions: 1) the histamine may be involved in only some of the IARs; 2) other mediators, different from histamine, might also participate in the IAR [1]; 3) some local mechanisms in the tissue can also be presumed to be involved in the IAR, regarding the absence of histamine in the plasma in 47% of the IARs [1]; 4) the single measurement of histamine in the plasma/blood is not a suitable diagnostic parameter; 5) only the repeated measurement of histamine in the plasma, related to a certain allergen (“in vivo” bronchial challenge), could be accepted as supplementary information; 6) an involvement of different mechanisms in the IAR cannot be excluded regarding the 2 patterns of changes in histamine concentration in the plasma during the positive IAR.