Effect of the antihistaminic agents meclastine and dexchlorpheniramine on the response of human growth hormone to arginine infusion and insulin hypoglycemia.

Histamine is found in most tissues including the central nervous system. Here it reaches the highest concentrations in the hypothalamus and in the median eminence. In order to evaluate the possible role of endogenous histamine in the control of human growth hormone (hGH) secretion, we investigated the effect of two anti-histamine drugs, meclastine and dexchlorpheniramine, on the hGH response to arginine infusion and to insulin hypoglycemia in 30 normal subjects. The oral administration of meclastine for three days or the intravenous infusion of dexchlorpheniramine significantly reduced the hGH response to arginine infusion. Neither drug affected the secretion of hGH following insulin hypoglycemia. These results suggest that histamine is involved in the control of hGH release, at least in response to arginine. Our data are consistent with the finding that histamine stimulates GH release in the baboon (Meyer and Knobil, Endocrinology 80: 163, 1967) and with previous results indicating that the release of hGH in response to different stimuli is subject to different regulatory mechanisms.