Effect of increased gastric mucosal histamine on alcohol-induced gastric damage in rats.

The aim of this study was to determine whether the cytoprotective effect of prostaglandin might be mediated, at least in part, by inhibition of intramucosal histamine release. Intragastric instillation of increasing concentrations of ethanol in 150 mM HCl resulted in increasing lesion scores and increasing histamine release into the gastric content. Pretreatment with 16,16-dimethyl prostaglandin E2 significantly reduced both lesion scores and gastric histamine output. The intragastric instillation of histamine with tracer [14C]histamine either with or after 50% ethanol resulted in significant gastric tissue uptake of histamine and increased acid secretion. However this had no effect on lesion score, protein output or the protective effect of prostaglandin pretreatment. We conclude that the cytoprotective effect of 16,16-dimethyl prostaglandin E2 in the rat is independent of intramucosal histamine release.