Free and Conjugated Histamine in Faeces from Healthy Individuals

Abstract

The method developed by Bergström & Hansson (1951) for the extraction of histamine from aqueous solutions has been adapted for the extraction of histamine from faeces. The principle involves adsorption of histamine on a cation-exchange column (Amberlite IRC-50) and subsequent elution with hydrochloric acid. The histamine was assayed biologically. Mean recoveries of histamine diphosphate and N-acetyl- histamine added to faeces were 60 per cent and 64 per cent respectively. The highest value for free histamine-like activity in faeces from healthy individuals was 0.025 μg base/g wet weight. In many cases the concentration of free histamine-like activity could only be given as ⪙ a certain figure. Thus, in human faeces free histamine-like activity was present, if at all, in only minute quantities. In several cases a conjugated variety definitely seemed to be present. The highest observed value was 0.58 μg/g wet weight.

Index-words::

• Faeces
• histamine
• free histamine
• conjugated histamine