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Effects of topical treatment with H 1 and H 2 antagonists on clinical symptoms and nasal vascular reactions in patients with allergic rhinitis
Author(s) -
Holmberg K.,
Pipkorn U.,
Bake B.,
Blychert L.O.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
allergy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.363
H-Index - 173
eISSN - 1398-9995
pISSN - 0105-4538
DOI - 10.1111/j.1398-9995.1989.tb01070.x
Subject(s) - rhinorrhea , medicine , rhinomanometry , allergen , histamine , nasal congestion , antagonist , receptor antagonist , allergy , anesthesia , nasal administration , mucous membrane of nose , nasal spray , histamine h1 receptor , pharmacology , crossover study , leukotriene receptor , placebo , immunology , receptor , nose , surgery , pathology , alternative medicine
Fifteen asymptomatic subjects with allergic rhinitis participated in a double‐blind, randomized, crossover, placebo‐controlled study. The subjects were pretreated intra‐nasally with a single dose of a selective H 1 receptor antagonist, levocabastine, and/or selective H 2 receptor antagonist, ranitidine, prior to a nasal allergen challenge. The nasal symptoms obtained at the challenge were assessed using a scoring technique 15 min after the allergen exposure. The nasal airway resistance was determined twice prior to and once after the allergen challenge using anterior rhinomanometry. The nasal mucosal blood flow was determined before and 15 min after allergen challenge using the 133 Xe wash‐out technique. After pretreatment with the H 1 antagonist there was a statistically significant reduction in the number of sneezes and rhinorrhea compared to pretreatment with placebo. Pretreatment with the H 2 receptor significantly decreased the rhinorrhea but not the sneeze. The nasal blockage was unaffected by both the H 1 and the H 2 antagonists. Pretreatment with the H 1 and/or the H 2 antagonists inhibited the reduction in the nasal mucosal blood flow induced by the allergen challenge to a significant degree. The present findings suggest that topical treatment with the highly selective histamine antagonist, levocabastine, inhibits allergen‐induced reflex‐mediated symptoms. H 1 and H 2 receptors do not appear to be involved in the regulation of the tone of the capacitance vessels. This indicates that a more complex mechanism participates in the induction of nasal blockage than the direct effect of histamine on H 1 and H 2 receptors on the capacitance vessels of the nasal mucosa alone. Both H 1 and H 2 receptors are of importance for the regulation of nasal mucosal blood flow during the allergic reaction.