Although the content of histamine in myocardial tissue is high, its contribution to the regulation of coronary blood flow has not been clearly defined. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether or not nitric oxide (NO), an important modulator of coronary vascular tone, is involved in histamine-induced coronary vasomotion and to characterize which histaminergic receptor subtype mediates this process. Isolated, constant-flow-perfused guinea pig hearts were challenged with histamine, the H1-receptor agonist pyridylethylamine (PYR) and the H2-receptor agonist dimaprit (DIM). Apart from coronary perfusion pressure (CPP), left ventricular pressure (LVP) and the development of contractile force (dp/dt), the release of NO and cyclic GMP (cGMP) were continuously measured. Histamine and DIM induced concentration dependently a coronary vasodilatation with an almost 50% decrease in CPP paralleled by an enhancement of LVP and dp/dt by more than 80%. PYR selectively reduced CPP by 47% without affecting LVP and dp/dt. Histamine- and PYR-induced coronary vasodilatation were paralleled by a more-than-twofold increase in basal cGMP release from isolated hearts, whereas DIM exerted no effects on cGMP release. Oxyhemoglobin (4 microM), an effective scavenger of NO, shifted the concentration-response curve for histamine- and PYR-induced changes in CPP significantly to the right and in parallel inhibited the increase in cGMP release. Histamine and PYR rapidly (within 2 s) decreased CPP, while the onset of DIM-induced coronary vasodilatation followed changes in LVP with a lag period of 10 s. Histamine increased basal NO release concentration dependently by a maximum of 351 +/- 21 pmol/min.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)