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Vascular responses to histamine at low temperatures in normal digital skin and Raynaud's phenomenon

  • Histamine and Clinical Studies
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Abstract

A defective histaminergic dilating system in the digital vasculature has been proposed for the pathophysiology of Raynaud's phenomenon but this is not supported by studies of digital intradermal responses to histamine or agents which cause histamine release. The vascular responses (measured by planimetry and laser Doppler flowmetry) of digital skin over the middle phalanx to intradermal histamine, compound 48/80 and Substance P have now been studied at low temperatures (because it is in the cold that Raynaud's phenomenon occurs) in normal controls and patients with primary Raynaud's phenomenon. A cold-related attenuation of mast cell histamine release by compound 48/80 was observed in both normal and Raynaud's subjects. These results do not support a major histaminergic defect in the pathogenesis of Raynaud's phenomenon.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Dermatology, The Middlesex Hospital, Mortimer St., W1N 8AA, London, UK

    C. B. Bunker & P. M. Dowd

  2. Department of Pharmacology, University College and Middlesex School of Medicine, University College, Gower St., WC1E 6BT, London, UK

    J. C. Foreman

Authors
  1. C. B. Bunker
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  2. J. C. Foreman
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  3. P. M. Dowd
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Bunker, C.B., Foreman, J.C. & Dowd, P.M. Vascular responses to histamine at low temperatures in normal digital skin and Raynaud's phenomenon. Agents and Actions 33, 197–199 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01993166

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01993166

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