title: Intravenous infusion of ascorbic acid decreases serum histamine concentrations in patients with allergic and non-allergic diseases.
abstract: Histamine plays an important role in the development of symptoms in allergic, infectious, neoplastic and other diseases. Empirical findings have suggested beneficial effects of ascorbic acid supplementation in those diseases, and these effects are assumed to be related to a possible decrease in systemic histamine concentration. In the present study, we systematically investigated for the first time the effect of 7.5 g of intravenously administered ascorbic acid on serum histamine levels (as detected by ELISA) in 89 patients (19 with allergic and 70 with infectious diseases). When all patients were grouped together, there was a significant decline in histamine concentration from 0.83 to 0.57 ng/ml×m2 body surface area (BSA, p<0.0001). The decrease in serum histamine concentration in patients with allergic diseases (1.36 to 0.69 ng/ml×m2 BSA, p=0.0007) was greater than that in patients with infectious diseases (0.73 to 0.56 ng/ml×m2 BSA, p=0.01). Furthermore, the decline in histamine concentration after ascorbic acid administration was positively correlated with the basal, i.e. pre-therapeutic, histamine concentration. Intravenous infusion of ascorbic acid clearly reduced histamine concentrations in serum, and may represent a therapeutic option in patients presenting with symptoms and diseases associated with pathologically increased histamine concentration.
authors.affiliation: Functional Tissue Diagnostics, Department of Medicine I, University Erlangen, Ulmenweg 18, 91054, Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: Alexander F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Hagel
authors.forename: Christian M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Layritz
authors.forename: Wolfgang H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Hagel
authors.forename: Hans-Jürgen
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Hagel
authors.forename: Edith
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hagel
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Dauth
authors.forename: Jürgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kressel
authors.forename: Tanja
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Regnet
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rosenberg
authors.forename: Markus F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Neurath
authors.forename: Gerhard J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Molderings
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Raithel
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001205:Ascorbic Acid / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D003141:Communicable Diseases / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006632:Histamine / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D006967:Hypersensitivity / Q000097:blood*; D007262:Infusions, Intravenous; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D006632:Histamine; D001205:Ascorbic Acid