Histidine uptake by isolated rat peritoneal mast cells. Effect of inhibition of histidine decarboxylase by alpha-fluoromethylhistidine.

Preincubation with (S)-alpha-fluoromethylhistidine, an irreversible inhibitor of histidine decarboxylase, was found to markedly reduce, but not eliminate, the uptake of [3H]histidine by rat peritoneal mast cells. The Vmax for histidine transport for cells in which decarboxylation of histidine had been completely inhibited was 11.9 pmoles per min per 10(6) cells, compared to a Vmax of 18.9 pmoles per min per 10(6) cells in the presence of active mast cell histidine decarboxylase. The Km of uptake was 139 microM in the presence of alpha-fluoromethylhistidine, several times higher than the Km of 44.0 microM in the uninhibited cell. alpha-Fluoromethylhistidine did not inhibit mast cell uptake of phenylalanine, a competitive inhibitor of histidine uptake but not a substrate for histidine decarboxylase; nor did it inhibit the uptake of histidine by non-mast cells, which lack histidine decarboxylase. Levels of intracellular [3H]histidine in mast cells were similar in the presence and absence of the decarboxylase inhibitor. Based on these observations, we propose that intracellular decarboxylation of histidine in the mast cell serves to specifically enhance the uptake of histidine by the relatively non-specific amino acid transporter present in the plasma membrane of the cell.