Histamine relaxation of aortic rings from diabetic rats

The effect of histamine-induced relaxation on thoracic aortic rings from rats 5, 12, 24 and 52 weeks following streptozotocin-induced diabetes was determined. Preliminary studies confirmed the dependence of histamine-induced relaxation and the independence of nitroglycerin-relaxation (GTN) on the presence of endothelium (EDRF). Diabetes was confirmed by blood glucose levels exceeding 300 mg/dl. Rings with endothelium were depolarized several times with 50 mM KCL and then contracted with phenylephrine (10(-6)). Dose-response curves were plotted from data obtained following exposure to histamine (10(-7)-10(-3)) and GTN (10(-9)-10(-7)) and compared to responses from age-matched untreated controls, diabetic and diabetic rats treated with insulin (2 U/day). The relaxation produced by histamine on phenylephrine pre-contracted rings was similar in all three groups from 5-week age matched rats. However, histamine-induced relaxation from untreated diabetic rats was significantly depressed at 12, 24 and 52 weeks (p less than 0.001). Conversely there was no difference in the relaxation elicited by GTN on rings obtained from the three groups at any age. Pretreatment with diphenhydramine (5 x 10(-7)) on aortic rings from 12 and 52-week age matched rats resulted in qualitatively similar histamine dose-response curves that were displaced about two orders of magnitude to the right, indicative of H1 receptor competitive antagonism. These results demonstrate that the duration of diabetes alters the responsiveness of rat thoracic aortic rings to histamine but not to GTN and suggests that the responses elicited by certain agonists on target tissues may be significantly altered depending on the duration of diabetes.