Parathyroid Hormone Secretion in Normal Man and in Primary Hyperparathyroidism: Role of Histamine H2Receptors*

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Abstract
The effect of histamine and histamine H2 receptors on secretion of parathyroid hormone (PTH) was evaluated by adding histamine phosphate (with or without the histamine H2 receptor antagonist, cimetidine) to the medium in in vitro incubation studies with bovine parathyroid tissue, infusing histamine into rats, and infusing the histamine H1 receptor antagonist, diphenhydramine or cimetidine into normal men and patients with primary hyperparathyroidism. In vitro, histamine (10-5-10-7 M) caused a dose-related significant stimulation of immunoreactive [i] PTH secretion; this was blocked by the simultaneous addition of cimetidine (10-5 M). I.v. infusion of histamine significantly increased serum iPTH in rats. In normal man, infusion of diphenhydramine had no effect, but cimetidine (300 or 450 mg) significantly decreased serum iPTH. Cimetidine had no effect on serum iPTH in primary hyperparathyroid patients. In vitro, histamine can stimulate iPTH secretion by a direct effect on the parathyroid cell; this is probably a specific effect via histamine H2 receptors because the effect was blocked by the H2 receptor antagonist, cimetidine. The observed inhibition of basal PTH concentration by cimetidine-induced histamine H2 receptor blockade (but not by H1 blockade) in normal human subjects suggests that endogenous histamine with H2 receptor activation stimulates even basal PTH secretion and may serve as a modulator of PTH secretion in normal man. Loss of this modulating effect of H2 receptors on PTH secretion is a characteristic of primary hyperparathyroidism.