Histamine antagonist



A histamine antagonist is an agent which serves to inhibit the release or action of histamine.

Although the term "antihistamine" could technically be used for any histamine antagonist, in practice the term is reserved for the histamine receptor.

Contents

Clinical: H1- and H2-receptor antagonists

H1-receptor antagonists

Main article: H1 antihistamine

In common use, the term antihistamine refers only to H1-receptor antagonists, also known as H1-antihistamines. It has been discovered that these H1-antihistamines are actually antagonists per se. [1]

H2-receptor antagonists

Main article: H₂-receptor antagonist

Clinically-relevant histamine H2-receptors are found principally in the parietal cells of the gastric mucosa. H2-receptor "antagonists" are also famotidine.

Experimental: H3- and H4-receptor antagonists

These are experimental agents and do not yet have a defined clinical use.

H3-receptor antagonists

H4-receptor antagonists


Others

Inhibitors of histamine release

These agents (mast cell stabilizers) appear to stabilise the mast cells to prevent degranulation and mediator release.

Other agents with antihistaminergic activity

Many drugs, used for other indications, possess unwanted antihistaminergic activity. These include tricyclic antidepressants, antipsychotics, etc.

References

  1. ^ Leurs R, Church MK, Taglialatela M (2002). "H1-antihistamines: inverse agonism, anti-inflammatory actions and cardiac effects". Clin Exp Allergy 32 (4): 489-98. PMID 11972592.
 
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Histamine_antagonist". A list of authors is available in Wikipedia.