Rodent antinociception following acute treatment with different histamine receptor agonists and antagonists.

The effects of different histamine receptor agonists and antagonists on the nociceptive threshold were investigated in mice by two different kinds of noxious stimuli: thermal (hot plate) and chemical (acetic acid-induced abdominal writhing). Intracerebroventricular (icv) injection of the histamine H(1) receptor agonist, HTMT (6-[2-(4-imidazolyl)ethylamino]-N-(4-trifluoromethylphenyl) heptanecarboxamide) (50 microg/mouse), produced a hypernociception in the hot plate and writhing tests. Conversely, intraperitoneal (ip) injection of dexchlorpheniramine (30 and 40 mg/kg) and diphenhydramine (20 and 40 mg/kg) increased the pain threshold in both tests. The histamine H(2) receptor agonist, dimaprit (50 and 100 microg/mouse icv), or antagonist, ranitidine (50 and 100 microg/mouse icv), raised the pain threshold in both hot plate and writhing tests. In the mouse hot plate test, the histamine H(3) receptor agonist, imetit (50 mg/kg ip), reduced the pain threshold, while the histamine H(3) receptor antagonist, thioperamide (10 and 20 mg/kg ip), produced an antinociception. The hypernociceptive effects of HTMT and imetit were antagonized by dexchlorpheniramine (20 mg/kg ip) and thioperamide (5 mg/kg ip), respectively. The results suggest that histaminergic mechanisms may be involved in the modulation of nociceptive stimuli.