Effect in Man of Oral Terbutaline on Cutaneous Reactions Induced by Allergen and Gold Stimulation

In eight atopic subjects wheal and flare responses to intradermally injected horse dander and histamine were determined after pretreatment with 5 mg oral terbutaline or placebo in a double-blind cross-over study. In each individual a dose of allergen was used that produced a flare reaction approximately the size of the ED50 for histamine. Pretreatment with terbutaline was found to attenuate both the wheal and the flare reactions to allergen throughout the observation period of 150 min but only the effect on the wheal response reached statistical significance (P less than 0.01). The responses to histamine were not influenced. In five subjects with cold urticaria, treatment with 2.5 mg terbutaline t.i.d. for a week had no effect on the time period of cold provocation needed to evoke an urticarial lesion. It is concluded that oral treatment with terbutaline may produce an inhibitory action on allergen induced reactions but that this effect is not strong enough to interfere with clinical skin testing and hence the drug need not to be withdrawn prior to such testing.