Glycogenolysis and control of anaphylactic histamine release by cyclic adenosine monophosphate--related agents.

The relationship of glycogen and glucose to anaphylactic histamine release from chopped sensitized guinea pig lung in vitro was studied. A parallelism was observed between the total amount of glycogen in the sensitized lung and the total amount of histamine released from the lung by antigen-antibody reactions. Removal of glucose from the medium for tissue suspension resulted in reduction in histamine release. Depletion of glycogen and/or glucose from the system was associated with (1) abolition of the inhibition of histamine release by isoproterenol and high concentrations of dibutyryl cyclic adenosine monophosphate (AMP) and (2) increase in the rate of enhancement of histamine release by lower concentrations of dibutyryl cyclic AMP. The results indicate that (1) glycogen may be one of the ultimate energy sources for anaphylactic histamine release, and (2) the presence of adequate amounts of glycogen and/or glucose in the sensitized tissue is necessary for the normal beta adrenergic effects on the histamine release in vitro from sensitized lung fragments.