No cutaneous histamine release with buprenorphine?

Most narcotics cause histamine release, both systemic and cutaneous. Whether buprenorphine causes histamine release is not yet known. We conducted intradermal tests on 11 healthy adults with buprenorphine in dilutions of 1:10,000, 1:1000, 1:100 and 1:10 and with 0.9% saline and histamine 10(-3) mol/l. The size of dermal reaction was noted after 15 and 30 min. None of the volunteers showed any cutaneous reaction suggestive of histamine release with buprenorphine. The absence of histamine-releasing activity of buprenorphine may be due to the structure of the drug resulting in its decreased basicity or to the insufficient concentration of the drug achieved at mast cell membrane.