THE EFFECTS OF HISTAMINE ON THE PLASMA POTASSIUM LEVELS OF CATS

¹ Departments of Pharmacology, College of Medicine, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, and Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn.

The injection of 150 microgm. of histamine into cats anesthetized with pentobarbital regularly causes an elevation in the plasma potassium concentration, lasting for about five to ten minutes. This elevation of the plasma potassium level is frequently followed by a fall in the potassium levels below the pre-injection concentration.

Removal of the adrenal glands increases the extent of the potassium rise in females and prolongs the duration of rise in both male and female cats.

Removal of the gastrointestinal tract substantially reduced the rise in plasma potassium concentrations.

For the first hour after an injection of histamine, the output of urine and the total urinary output of potassium are decreased.

Acetylcholine, barium chloride and anoxia also cause a rise in the plasma potassium levels.

The blood cell potassium content falls after an injection of histamine.

It is concluded that after the injection of histamine intravenously, sufficient potassium leaks into the plasma to exert a pharmacological effect.

It is further concluded that secretions from the adrenal glands effect a reabsorption of the potassium into cells within five minutes of the rise taking place.

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				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]