Evidence of histamine release in response to both aerobic and resistance exercise: histamine metabolites as biomarkers.
Level 3 - non-randomized controlled study
Non-randomized within-subject comparative physiological study
PubMed 41837462 · doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.01166.2025
What was done
Twelve participants (1 female, 11 male; V̇o2peak: 51.9 ± 6.9 mL·kg⁻¹·min⁻¹; back squat 1-RM: 1.59 ± 0.26 kg·body wt⁻¹) completed two exercise sessions: aerobic (30 min cycling at 70% V̇o2peak) and resistance (6 sets of 10 back squats at 10-RM). Femoral artery blood flow was measured, and blood samples were collected before, immediately after, and throughout 2 hours of postexercise recovery. Urine was collected 24 hours pre-exercise, from exercise onset through 2 hours post-exercise, and for 24 hours post-exercise to measure the histamine metabolites 1-methylhistamine and 1-methylimidazole acetic acid.
What was found
Plasma concentrations and urinary production rates of both 1-methylhistamine and 1-methylimidazole acetic acid increased following both aerobic and resistance exercise (P < 0.05; absolute values not reported in abstract). Receiver operating characteristic analysis for urinary 1-methylimidazole acetic acid showed that urine production rates discriminated between conditions with an area under the curve of 0.80 (P < 0.01) and a likelihood ratio of 12 (P < 0.01).
Why it matters
Because histamine degrades rapidly, measuring urinary and circulating metabolites provides a viable, noninvasive biomarker approach to track exercise-induced histamine responses across both aerobic and resistance training modalities.
Limits
Small sample size (n = 12) with severe sex imbalance (11 males, 1 female). The abstract does not report absolute metabolite concentrations or mention randomization and washout duration between exercise sessions.
Cited by
- supports Exercise causes the release of histamine, which functions to dilate blood vessels for increased blood flow.