Antihistamines

Abstract

Histamine, first characterized nearly a century ago, is a key mediator of numerous biologic reactions including allergic ones, some of which are involved in usual dermatosis pathophysiology. There are conceptually three ways to counteract the biological effects of histamine: (1) to decrease its synthesis, (2) to inhibit its release and (3) to prevent its fixation at the surface of the receptors. Antihistamines act via his third way and two main families of drugs actually exist: H1-antihistamines counteracting effects mediated through H1-receptors and H2-antihistamine counteracting effects mediated through H2 histamine receptors. © 2010 Springer-Verlag London.