Skip to content
histamine antagonist

File:Histamine.svg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons

EntityQ324089· pop 45· linked from 2,822 articles

histamine antagonist

Sign in to save

Also known as antihistamine, histamine inhibitor, histamine antagonists

Antihistamines are drugs that treat hay fever and other allergies. Typically, people take antihistamines as an inexpensive, generic (not patented) drug that can be bought without a prescription and provides relief from nasal congestion, sneezing, or hives caused by pollen, dust mites, or animal allergy with few side effects. Antihistamines are usually for short-term treatment. Chronic allergies increase the risk of health problems which antihistamines might not treat, including asthma, sinusitis, and lower respiratory tract infection. Consultation of a medical professional is recommended for t

Key facts

Drug class.Name
Antihistamine
Drug class.Image
Histamine.svg
Drug class.ImageClass
skin-invert-image
Drug class.Alt
Histamine structure diagram
Drug class.Caption
Histamine structure
Drug class.ATC_prefix
R06
Drug class.Biological_target
Histamine receptorsHRH1HRH2HRH3HRH4
Drug class.Mechanism_of_action
Receptor antagonistInverse agonist
Drug class.MeshID
D006633

via Wikipedia infobox

Research

77,558 papers

via PubMed

Wikidata facts

Show 2 more facts
topic's main category
Category:Antihistamines
Commons category
Antihistamines
Sources (5)

via Wikidata · CC0

~16 min read

Encyclopedic overview

18 sections
Contents
  • Medical uses
  • Types
  • H<sub>1</sub>-antihistamines
  • List of H<sub>1</sub> antagonists/inverse agonists
  • H<sub>2</sub>-antihistamines
  • H<sub>3</sub>-antihistamines
  • <span class="anchor" id="H4-receptor antagonists"></span> H<sub>4</sub>-antihistamines <!-- [[H4 antagonist]] redirects here -->
  • Atypical antihistamines
  • Histidine decarboxylase inhibitors
  • Mast cell stabilizers
  • History
  • Society and culture
  • Research
  • Special populations
  • Potential uses studied
  • See also
  • References
  • External links

Antihistamines are drugs that treat hay fever and other allergies. Typically, people take antihistamines as an inexpensive, generic (not patented) drug that can be bought without a prescription and provides relief from nasal congestion, sneezing, or hives caused by pollen, dust mites, or animal allergy with few side effects. Antihistamines are usually for short-term treatment. Chronic allergies increase the risk of health problems which antihistamines might not treat, including asthma, sinusitis, and lower respiratory tract infection. Consultation of a medical professional is recommended for those who intend to take antihistamines for longer-term use.

Although the general public typically uses the word "antihistamine" to describe drugs for treating allergies, physicians and scientists use the term to describe a class of drug that opposes the activity of histamine receptors in the body. In this sense of the word, antihistamines are subclassified according to the histamine receptor that they act upon. The two largest classes of antihistamines are H1-antihistamines and H2-antihistamines.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “histamine antagonist” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.