PEDIATRICS Vol. 21 No. 5 May 1958, pp. 805-812
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow P3Rs: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when P3Rs are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow E-mail this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My File Cabinet
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Gardner, L. I.
Right arrow Articles by Tice, A. A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Gardner, L. I.
Right arrow Articles by Tice, A. A.

HISTAMINE AND RELATED COMPOUNDS IN URTICARIA PIGMENTOSA: ANALYSES OF TISSUES HAVING MAST-CELL INFILTRATION

Lytt I. Gardner M.D.1 and Artelissa A. Tice B.A.1

1 Department of Pediatrics, State University of New York, Upstate Medical Center

Tissue from the liver and spleen of a child with urticaria pigmentosa have been analyzed chemically for histamine and related compounds. Both tissues were infiltrated with mast cells. Trichloroacetic acid extracts of tissue from the liver of the child with urticaria pigmentosa were chromatogaphed on paper. Histamine was demonstrated as a double-spot formation similar to that described by previous workers who have chromatographed histamine-rich tissues. The histamine was present in the tissue in several hundred times the normal concentration, and exceeded the values for human tissue reported in the available literature. No serotonin could be detected in these human mast cells, a finding in contrast with previous reports of increased serotonin content in rodent mast cells, and in agreement with the findings of Sjoerdsma et al. who could find no serotonin in skin from a patient with urticaria pigmentosa. Our studies suggest that the decarboxylation of 5-hydroxytryptophan to serotonin does not take place in the human mast cell. Instead the accumulation of compounds such as 5-hydroxytryptophan, kynurenine or hydroxylated kynurenine may take place. There was no increase in xanthine oxidase activity.

Acetone extracts of tissue from the liver were made and the residues chromatographed. In addition to histamine, there were noted three substances of unknown structure resembling tryptophane and/or its metabolites. Chemical evidence suggesting the presence of large amounts of a substance resembling mucoitin sulfuric acid (? heparin) in this tissue was obtained. The possible relationship of such compounds to the biochemical error in urticaria pigmentosa is briefly considered. There are at present no data to indicate whether the enzymatic defect is primary to the intermediary catabolism of histamine or of heparin.

Submitted on November 7, 1957
Accepted on December 5, 1957




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Arch Intern MedHome page
P. P. VAN ARSDEL Jr. and G. N. BEALL
The Metabolism and Functions of Histamine
Arch Intern Med, November 1, 1960; 106(5): 714 - 733.
[Abstract] [PDF]