Histamine, β-imidazolylethylamine, is a decomposition product of albumin and is derived from the amino-acid histidine by the splitting off of carbon dioxide. It is exceedingly active both pharmacologically and physiologically, and has therefore been widely studied.
The action of histamine on the secretory function of the stomach was proved in animal experimentation by Popielski,1 Keeton, Koch and Luckhardt2 and others. On the human stomach its effect was first observed in 1922 by Carnot, Koskowski and Liebert,3 and since that time it has been the subject of numerous investigations. Matheson and Ammon,4 Gompertz and Vorhaus,5 Andresen,6 Bockus and Bank,7 Katzenelbogen and Choisy,8 Bloomfield and Polland,9 Fényes10 and Henning11 demonstrated that histamine injected either subcutaneously or intramuscularly is a most reliable stimulant for gastric secretion, especially the secretion of free hydrochloric acid, and that the secretion of hydrochloric acid occurs within fifteen minutes after the injection of histamine, usually reaching a maximum