Plasma histamine concentrations are elevated in patients with diabetes mellitus and peripheral vascular disease.

Previous work has shown that plasma and tissue concentrations of histamine are elevated in rats with experimental diabetes mellitus and that leucocytes and platelets from patients with peripheral vascular disease have a higher histamine content than those from controls. In the present study, we have measured: (a) plasma histamine concentrations; (b) leucocyte and platelet histidine decarboxylase (the enzyme responsible for the biosynthesis of histamine) in patients with diabetes mellitus (Types I and II) and peripheral vascular disease; and (c) platelet and leucocyte histamine content. Plasma histamine concentration was significantly higher in patients with diabetes and peripheral vascular disease respectively than that in age-matched controls. Leucocyte histidine decarboxylase activity in diabetic and peripheral vascular disease patients was similar to that in controls, while platelets had no histidine decarboxylase activity. The leucocyte and platelet content of histamine were greater in patients with peripheral vascular disease than those in controls, but they were not altered in diabetic patients. There was no correlation between plasma histamine concentration, leucocyte and platelet histamine content, and histidine decarboxylase activity. We conclude that plasma histamine is elevated in diabetics and in patients with peripheral vascular disease and that platelet and leucocyte histamine content is increased in the latter. This increase in platelet and leucocyte histamine content is not due to an increase in histidine decarboxylase activity of these cells. The increase in plasma and cellular histamine content may contribute to the pathogenesis of increased endothelial permeability in diabetes and to the pathogenesis of intimal damage in atherosclerosis.