In vivo effect of cimetidine on canine pulmonary responsiveness to aerosol histamine.

A series of experiments were designed to discover whether pulmonary histamine H2 receptors might be of physiologic importance in vivo in the dog. Dose-response curves were performed to aerosol histamine in 11 dogs both before and 1 hr after H2 receptor blockade with cimetidine (1 mg/kg as a rapid intravenous infusion). Cimetidine had no significant effect on control values of dynamic compliance or resistance of the lung. In the 11 dogs tested H2 receptor antagonism significantly potentiated (p less than 0.05) the animals' pulmonary responsiveness to aerosol histamine. The potentiation of histamine constrictor e-fects produced by cimetidine were more marked on those dogs initially least responsive to aerosol histamine (p less than 0.01). We have found evidence for the presence of inhibitory H2 receptors in canine airways and for the distribution of these receptors among dogs, explaining in part the previously described differences among dogs in the pulmonary responsiveness to aerosol histamine.