The influence of causes of hyposalivation on clinical outcome of nizatidine in patients with dry mouth

It was reported that nizatidine, a histamine H₂-receptor antagonist, promoted salivation by inhibiting acetylcholinesterase and increasing acetylcholine in cholinergic nerves. However, little is known concerning the appropriate usage of the drug for dry mouth. Therefore, the relationship between the causes of dry mouth and the effects of nizatidine was investigated in order to examine the indication of the drug in dry mouth.

In the study, 45 patients who came to the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Tokyo Medical University Hachioji Medical Center, with a chief complaint of dry mouth during the 1-year period from August 2006 to August 2007, were given nizatidine at 300 mg/day continually for 4 weeks. At 2 weeks and 4 weeks of administration, gum tests were conducted on the patients, and the effect of nizatidine was evaluated on a visual analog scale. The cases were divided into groups according to the causes of hyposalivation, and the effect of nizatidine was examined for each group. As a result, the group with aging as the cause, and the group with drug side effects as the cause, was observed to have increased salivary secretion and improvement in subjective symptoms.