Lung mucociliary transport in asymptomatic asthma: effects of inhaled histamine

Bronchial mucociliary clearance (CB) and tracheal mucus velocity (TMV) were measured during the course of repeated inhalations of histamine in six subjects with asthma who had no symptoms in a double-blind, crossover study with a radioaerosol technique. Subjects inhaled a technetium 99m-labeled ferric oxide aerosol with an aerodynamic diameter of approximately 8 microns. CB was recorded for 2.5 hours with a gamma camera, and TMV measured with a multidetector probe situated over the extrathoracic trachea. Histamine was administered repeatedly in concentrations previously shown to produce a 20% fall in forced expired volume in 1 second and at intervals allowing 90% recovery of pulmonary function. Histamine produced a 28% increase in CB (p less than 0.001, analysis of variance) and an 87% increase in TMV (p less than 0.001, analysis of variance) above control values, which was not significantly different from that previously observed in normal subjects receiving significantly higher concentrations of histamine. We conclude that histamine stimulates the mucus transport mechanism in subjects with asthma and that there is a relative hypersensitivity to histamine when these subjects are compared with normal subjects.