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Joel F. Lehrer, MD
College of Medicine of New Jersey Holy Name and Valley Hospitals Teaneck

JAMA. 1986;255(24):3366-3367.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.—

Togias et al,¹ in their Jan 10 article, demonstrate that azatadine base inhibits mediator release from human mast cells but state that the mechanism of this inhibition is unknown.

I would like to suggest that the mechanism in question is the prevention of calcium entry into the mast cell through voltage-dependent calcium channels. The similarity in structure of azatadine to cyproheptadine has been noted by Lichtenstein and Gillespie² and by the Schering Corporation in its Basic Data Book. Donatsch et al³ concluded that cyproheptadine inhibited depolarization-dependent calcium entry into rat pancreatic B cells. Lowe et al⁴ concluded that cyproheptadine reduced the flow of calcium ion through the voltage-dependent calcium channels in guinea pig smooth muscle. Ishizaka and Ishizaka⁵ concluded that entry of calcium into rat mast cells triggers histamine release. Togias et al postulate that the interaction of azatadine with H₁ . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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