Cheng · Biomolecules 2021 · narrative review · n=?

The Histaminergic System in Neuropsychiatric Disorders.

Cited 56 times in the scientific literature.

Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data

Narrative review synthesizing preclinical and clinical mechanism-based literature without systematic review methods.

PubMed 34572558 · doi:10.3390/biom11091345 · record verified 2026-08-28

What was done

This narrative review summarizes literature on the mammalian central histaminergic system, detailing the distribution of histaminergic neurons, histamine receptor subtypes, and downstream intracellular pathways. It reviews preclinical and clinical evidence addressing cell-type-specific and circuit-level roles of histamine in narcolepsy, schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease, Tourette's syndrome, and Parkinson's disease.

What was found

The abstract reports no quantitative data, statistics, or effect sizes. It qualitatively describes the involvement of brain histamine circuits in regulating wakefulness, appetite, cognition, and arousal, and notes alterations in these pathways across multiple neuropsychiatric disorders.

Why it matters

It organizes current understanding of central histamine circuitry across several major neurological and psychiatric disorders, highlighting histaminergic targets for therapeutic investigation.

Limits

As a narrative review, it presents no original empirical data and lacks a systematic search strategy, explicit study selection criteria, or formal risk-of-bias grading. Quantitative results and sample sizes across the discussed conditions are not detailed in the abstract.

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