Histamine, first autacoid identified
Histamina, primer autacoide identificado
- Date
- 1910 · confidence high
- Place
- Wellcome Physiological Research Laboratories, London, United Kingdom
- Credited to
- Henry Hallett Dale and Patrick Playfair Laidlaw
- Field
- Life & health
What was discovered
Dale and Laidlaw described the physiological effects of β-imidazolylethylamine, named histamine in 1913, showing it could cause a fall in blood pressure and smooth-muscle contraction, years before it was identified as a mediator of allergic reactions.
Histamine's central role in anaphylaxis and allergy was not established until Dale's work in the 1920s.
What it led to
- Concept of a local chemical mediator (autacoid)
- Understanding of anaphylaxis and allergic reaction
- Development of antihistamine drugs (1930s-40s)
Built on
Made possible
- Cimetidine1972
- Antihistamine drugs