AUTHOR=Chazot Paul L. , Johnston Laura , Mcauley Edel , Bonner Stephen 

TITLE=Histamine and Delirium: Current Opinion

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Pharmacology

VOLUME=Volume 10 - 2019

YEAR=2019

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/pharmacology/articles/10.3389/fphar.2019.00299

DOI=10.3389/fphar.2019.00299

ISSN=1663-9812

ABSTRACT=Delirium is a very common, but refractory clinical state, notably present in intensive care and in the growing ageing community. It is characterized by fluctuating disturbances in a number of key behavioural features, namely cognition, mood, attention, arousal, and self-awareness. Histamine is arguably the most pleotropic neurotransmitter in the human brain, and this review provides a rationale, and proposes that this neuroactive amine plays a role in modulating the characteristic features of delirium. While centrally-permeable H1 and H2 histamine receptor antagonists have pro-delirium potential, we propose that centrally-permeable H3 histamine receptor antagonists may provide an exciting new strategy to combat delirium. The Histamine H4 receptor may also have an indirect inflammatory neuroglial role which requires further exploration.