The mechanisms of histamine release in cutaneous type 1 allergy and enzymic histamine metabolism in skin

Abstract

The mechanisms of type 1 allergy in human skin were studied using an in vitro experimental model. The antigen-induced histamine release reaction was temperature- and Ca++ -dependent. Diisopropylfluorophosphate inhibited the histamine release suggesting that the activation of serine esterase in the mast cells in human skin may be essential to the histamine release reaction. That the histamine release was inhibited by cytochalasin B and colchicine indicated that microfilaments and microtubules may have a role in the histamine release reaction in human skin. The inhibition of the histamine release by catecholamines and methylxanthines which increase the cellular concentration of cyclic AMP suggested that cyclic AMP may regulate the antigen-induced histamine release from the mast cells in human skin.