Effect of hypothermia on histamine release induced by epinephrine infusion

Abstract

Experiments were performed on dogs anesthetized with chloralose. Epinephrine was infused (20 µg/kg/min.) into the saphenous vein and blood was taken from the femoral artery. Diffusible histamine contents of the plasma were estimated with the superfusion method. It was found that in normothermia epinephrine infusion results in a considerable rise of histamine level. After the cooling of the animals (21.5°–23°C) histamine release does not take place at all during and after the epinephrine infusion, and the histamine content of the blood does not change.