No abstract

Acute haemorrhagic lesions in the oesophagus, stomach and duodenum ('stress ulcers') occur relatively often under clinical conditions and are always dangerous to the patient (lethality rate about 70%). Since conservative and surgical treatment are without significant success up to now, prevention by adaptation to stressors or by administration of drugs seems mandatory. An improved technique for producing acute gastric lesions in rats by immobilization and a new method for assessing this disease in the animals is presented in this communication. High precision is obtained within a single experimental series especially from day to day. Since histamine was suggested to be involved in the pathogenesis of stress ulcer disease, (+)-catechin, a rather specific inhibitor of specific histidine decarboxylase from rat stomach, was tested in immobilized rats. It prevented the formation of acute gastric lesions by 80% in seven series of experiments lasting for half a year. Since the drug has low toxicity in man, it is recommended for clinical trials.

No abstract

The hypernephroid carcinoma is the most common tumour of the kidney in adults. Haematuria can occur, even in the early developmental stages. In investigations of 30 patients with-haematuria, radiological examinations were made and the plasma histamine levels were determined in both from the renal artery and vein, the vena cava and the aorta. After nephrectomy, the histamine content of various tissues in different regions of the kidney were investigated. Significant increases of plasma and tissue histamine levels were found in the veins of the tumour-riddled kidney and in the tissue surrounding the tumour. an experimental study on dogs investigated whether or not an injection of histamine into the renal artery would provoke haematuria. Dose-dependent haematuria occurred, which was most pronounced following intra-arterial injection of 25 micrograms/kg of histamine.