The histamine degradative uptake pathway in human vascular endothelial cells and skin fibroblasts is dependent on extracellular Na+ and Cl-.

We have previously reported that human vascular endothelial cells and skin fibroblasts carry out degradation of [3H]histamine by a mechanism involving two successive enzymatic steps: imidazole ring tele-methylation by the cells' endogenous methyltransferase and subsequent amine oxidation by an exogenous diamine oxidase. Both histamine and the exogenous second enzyme in the pathway associate with the cells via separate binding sites or receptors. The enzymatic degradation process results in cellular accumulation of the proximal and distal metabolites tele-methylhistamine and 1-methyl-4-imidazoleacetic acid (MIAA) (Haddock, R. C., Mack, P., Fogerty, F. J., and Baenziger, N. L. (1987) J. Biol. Chem. 262, 10220-10228). We have now demonstrated that this two-stage histamine degradative pathway is dependent on Na+ and Cl- in the extracellular environment. Accumulation of [3H] histamine-derived products is partially inhibited under conditions of Na+ deprivation and more substantially when Cl- is also withdrawn. The individual tele-methylation and amine oxidation enzymatic reactions themselves are unaffected or actually facilitated under these conditions. This indicates that it is the cellular mechanism for uptake coupled to the degradative pathway which reflects the cation and anion dependency. Restoration of degradative uptake displays a biphasic Na+ concentration curve, suggesting that the uptake process may be driven by multiple components. These findings indicate a role for both inward Na+ and Cl- ion movement in this cellular degradative uptake mechanism.