Inhibition of canine gastric acid secretion by an H-1 receptor antagonist to histamine.

Histamine H-2 receptors are thought to mediate gastric acid secretory responses, whereas H-1 receptors supposedly regulate mucosal vascular responses to histamine. In an in vivo chambered canine stomach flap preparation, the H-1 receptor antagonist, tripelennamine, injected intraarterially (22.1 mumol/kg) into the stomach flap reduced histamine-stimulated (1.25 micron/kg/min intravenously) acid secretion by approximately two thirds with a secondary reduction in gastric mucosal blood flow. This antisecretory action does not appear to be due to nonspecific mucosal damage. The H-2 receptor antagonist, metiamide, injected intraarterially (2.5 mumol/kg) also inhibited gastric acid secretion by about two thirds as did intravenously injected metiamide (4.5 mumol/kg), whereas intravenously administered tripelennamine (40.8 mumol/kg) was ineffective as an acid secretory inhibitor. Intraarterial tripelennamine reduced the secretory actions of the H-2 agonist, 4-methylhistamine (2.2 micron/kg/min intravenously), while intravenous metiamide depressed the gastric mucosal dilator responses to the H-1 agonist, 2-methylhistamine (5 micron/kg/min intravenously). Both histamine-receptor antagonists also reversed the systemic circulatory depressor effects of histamine and its analogs. These results suggest the need for reevaluation of inferences based upon the assumed specificity of H-2 and H-1 agonists and antagonists.