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British Journal of Pharmacology and Chemotherapy logoLink to British Journal of Pharmacology and Chemotherapy
. 1957 Jun;12(2):140–148. doi: 10.1111/j.1476-5381.1957.tb00112.x

Effect of chain length of aliphatic amines on histamine potentiation and release

J L Mongar
PMCID: PMC1509671  PMID: 13446365

Abstract

Diamines in the series NH2.(CH2)n.NH2 specifically potentiate histamine contractions of the guinea-pig ileum and inhibit the enzymatic destruction of histamine. These activities are greatest with short-chain compounds (n≃5). Diamines also release histamine from isolated tissues and depress the contractility of plain muscle and the motility of paramecia. These activities increase with chain-length and are probably limited only by solubility. The parallelism between histamine-releasing activity and toxicity also extends to the monoamines in the series CH3.(CH2)n-1.NH2. Histamine-releasing activity of both series increases with increase of pH and can mainly be attributed to the non-ionized base.

From the results on the effect of chain-length and ionization on activity, it is suggested that aliphatic amines release histamine by penetration of the cell membrane in the non-ionized form, followed by exchange in the ionic form with intracellular histamine.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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