Prevention of brain infarction by postischemic administration of histidine in rats.

Focal cerebral ischemia for 2 h by occlusion of the right middle cerebral artery provoked severe brain infarction in the rat brain after 24 h. Intraperitoneal administration of histidine, a precursor of histamine, immediately and 6 h after reperfusion, alleviated brain infarction. The infarct size in the histidine (200 mg/kg, 500 mg/kg, and 1000 mg/kg, each time) groups was 71%, 39%, and 7% of that in the control group, respectively. Although intracerebroventricular administration of mepyramine (3 nmol), an H1 antagonist, did not affect the morphologic outcome in histidine-treated rats, ranitidine (30 nmol), an H2 antagonist, completely abolished the alleviation caused by histidine. These findings indicate that postischemic administration of histidine prevents development of brain infarction by stimulating central histamine H2 receptors.