Histamine in the plasma and gastric juice of cats during infusions of [14C] histamine.

1. In anaesthetized cats with gastric fistulae, the relation was investigated between the rate of gastric secretion and the histamine contents of the plasma and the gastric juice during intravenous infusions of [(14)C]histamine for 3 hr.2. In the first hour only, some endogenous histamine appeared in the gastric juice.3. There was no quantitative relation between the histamine that was infused and that which appeared in the gastric juice.4. There was no correlation between the rate of gastric secretion and the concentration of histamine in either plasma or gastric juice.5. It was concluded that the secretion of histamine into the gastric juice was not essential to gastric secretion.