Histamine in lambs with abomasal bloat, haemorrhage and ulcers

The median concentration of histamine in abomasal fluid of lambs with aboma sal haemorrhage and/or ulcers (group 2) was significantly (P < 0.05) higher than the concentrations in lambs presenting abomasal bloat (group 1) and i n the healthy and the diseased controls. In group 2, there was also a stron g correlation (R-2 = 0.81) between the histamine concentrations in abomasal tissue and abomasal fluid, although the median value of histamine in the a bomasal tissue was not statistically higher in this group than in the other s. The urine of lambs in group 2 also had numerically higher median concent ration of histamine than the other groups. Five out of eight tested strains of Lactobacillus spp. and one out of two strains of Clostrdium sordellii, isolated from abomasal contents of lambs with abomasal disease, were strong producers of histamine. Bacterial production is one possible source for th e increased histamine concentrations in lambs suffering from abomasal haemo rrhage and/or ulcers.