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Acceleration of rat brain beta-adrenoceptor subsensitivity following the coadministration of histamine receptor antagonists with imipramine

  • Allery, Histamine and Kinins
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Abstract

Systemic administration of isoprenaline to rats produced a dose-dependent increase in water drinking which was effectively blocked by propranolol. This dipsogenic effect was significantly inhibited by the subacute (4 days) administration of imipramine (18.1. mg/kg/day) together with either the H1-histamine receptor antagonist, chlorpheniramine (0.1 or 1.32 mg/kg/day), or the H2-histamine antagonist, cimetidine (1.91 mg/kg/day) or ranitidine (0.60 or 1.51 mg/kg/day). The oral subacute administration of imipramine alone had no significant effect on this behavior. However, chronic ingestion of imipramine alone (21 days) caused a significant reduction in the isoprenaline-induced behavior.

It is concluded that the desensitization of central beta-adrenoceptors, as evidenced by inhibition of isoprenaline-induced drinking, can be accelerated following the oral subacute co-administration of imipramine with either H1- or H2-histamine receptor antagonists. It also seems that central histamine receptors may partially contribute towards the mechanism of antidepressant effect of imipramine.

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  1. Department of Medical Pharmacology College of Medicine, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2925, 11461, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

    A. A. Alhaider & A. A. Mustafa

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  1. A. A. Alhaider
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  2. A. A. Mustafa
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Alhaider, A.A., Mustafa, A.A. Acceleration of rat brain beta-adrenoceptor subsensitivity following the coadministration of histamine receptor antagonists with imipramine. Agents and Actions 28, 153–158 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01967394

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01967394

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