Cardiovascular actions of histamine and potassium

¹ Department of Pharmacology, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont

The cardiovascular actions of intravenous histamine, in doses from 2.5 to 20 µg/kg of the free base, were studied in the pentobarbitalized dog using the dye dilution method. With the small dose there was a consistent but small initial increase in cardiac output and with the larger doses there was a biphasic change in output. Cardiac rate, central venous pressure, central blood volume, hematocrit and the mean circulation time were essentially unchanged. Infusions of histamine and of potassium chloride at the rate of 1 µg and 1 mg/kg/min., respectively, moderately increased the cardiac output. Potassium chloride had no effect on the arterial blood pressure, cardiac rate and central venous pressure. Both the infusion of potassium chloride and injection of histamine produced a comparable elevation of the plasma potassium. It is possible that the actions of histamine to increase the plasma potassium contribute to the cardiovascular actions of this amine, especially on the cardiac output.