Allergen-Mediated Histamine Release from Whole Blood

Abstract

An automated spectrofluorometric histamine assay has been applied to the study of allergen-mediated histamine release on small samples of blood. Histamine released into the plasma following incubation of blood with grass pollen, house dust or cat dander was compared in 35 nonallergic controls and 43 atopic patients sensitive to these allergens by history, skin tests and a high RAST score. 14 of the patients suffering from hay fever were examined after completion of at least 1 year of preseasonal immunotherapy. No allergen-mediated histamine release was observed in most nonallergic controls; a negligible release (< 5% of total blood histamine) was seen in about 10% of these subjects. In contrast, a significant histamine release, ranging from 6 to 48% of total blood content, was specifically induced by allergen in over 90% of patients sensitive to it. Negative results are found more frequently in atopic patients submitted to immunotherapy. In some patients, allergen-mediated histamine release on whole blood was compared to that obtained with the corresponding isolated leukocytes. As expected, a good correlation was found between both systems but anaphylactic histamine release occurs much more quickly in the blood than in the leukocyte suspension. This procedure for measuring histamine released by antigen on blood is easy to perform. Heparinized blood may be stored 48 h without modification in the anaphylactic release of histamine and eight different allergens may be tested with 10 ml of blood. It thus appears to be a useful method for exploring reaginic hypersensitivity and may function as an in vitro alternative to skin tests.

Allergen- and Anti-IgE-Induced Histamine Release from Whole Blood

“…Whole blood histamine release was rapidly elicited and attained the maximum within 5 min after the addition of allergen, while release from washed leukocytes was much slower. The result of allergen-induced release studied here was generally similar to that by Radermecker [7], although the maxi mum percent release in this study was elicited after 15 min incubation. The difference in the incubation time leading to the maximum release between his re sult and ours was unknown.…”

“…In this study the release of histamine with allergen and anti-lgE was observed using whole blood. The result by Radermecker [7] demonstrated that the time course of allergen-mediat ed histamine release was different from that of washed leukocytes. Whole blood histamine release was rapidly elicited and attained the maximum within 5 min after the addition of allergen, while release from washed leukocytes was much slower.…”

Histamine Release from Washed Whole Blood

“…With washed whole blood, any immunological release measured can only be attributed to IgE-mediated type I hypersensitivity. The problem of blanks posed by plasma in fluorimetric assays [6] is overcome. The use of dialysis is also avoided by the present procedure.…”

“…Minor modifications of Siraganian's method have later been published, comprising histamine release from isolated basophils as well as from whole blood [4][5][6].…”

Histamine and its Release from Nasal Polyps: Preliminary Communication

“…Matched venous blood placed in a lithium heparin tube was also challenged with allergen extracts and sheep antihuman IgE . Levels greater than 15% of total histamine available were considered as probably positive both for polyp tissue and peripheral blood (Norman et al 1973, Radermecker 1980. Fourteen patients had asthma, 4 hay fever and 13 had positive skin tests to one or more allergens (Drake-Lee & McLaughlan, in preparation).…”