Mk. Phillips et al., CUTANEOUS HISTAMINE REACTIVITY, HISTAMINE CONTENT OF COMMERCIAL ALLERGENS, AND POTENTIAL FOR FALSE-POSITIVE SKIN-TEST REACTIONS IN DOGS, Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 203(9), 1993, pp. 1288-1292
The cutaneous reactivity of normal and atopic dogs to intradermal inje
ctions of histamine phosphate was evaluated. Significant differences w
ere not found in the mean wheal diameters of either group. Commercial
allergens used for intradermal skin testing and immunotherapy were det
ermined to contain histamine. To determine whether allergen histamine
content was sufficient to cause false-positive skin test results, the
cutaneous response of Johnson grass allergic dogs was compared, using
commercial Johnson grass allergen and commercial Johnson grass allerge
n with histamine removed. Significant differences were not noticed bet
ween Johnson grass and dehistaminized Johnson grass. Therefore, the hi
stamine content of commercial Johnson grass allergen did not appear to
cause false-positive skin test results for this group of Johnson gras
s allergic dogs.