[Urinary N-methylhistamine excretion. Following exogenous histamine administration and allergy/exercise-induced bronchoconstriction].

Histamine is partly metabolized to a stabile metabolite N-methyl-histamine and excreted in the urine. We analysed the degradation of infused histamine and the N-methyl-histamine-excretion in atopic and normal individuals as in patients with a bronchoconstriction due to allergen/exercise challenge. N-methyl-histamine was determined by a newly developed radioimmunoassay. 60 controls and 38 atopic individuals were investigated. There is a proportional increase of N-methyl-histamine in the urine in young children. However, no significant difference between allergic and non-allergic individuals was found. After parenteral administration of a standardized amount of histamine 12% of the applied amount was secreted in the urine as N-methylhistamine. The most significant increase of N-methylhistamine-excretion was observed in the first hour after application. Only an 0.1% rise of N-methyl-histamine was observed following an oral administration of histamine. Neither bronchial challenge with specific allergen nor physical exercise elicited significant changes of N-methylhistamine excretion. The secretion of N-methyl-histamine demonstrates the degradation of histamine in the circulation, the measurement oft this metabolite in the urine should be considered when analysing the cause of severe systemic allergic reaction as anaphylaxis but not asthma or atopic disposition.