Noradrenergic Glomus Cells in the Carotid Body: An Autoradiographic and Immunocytochemical Study in the Rabbit and Rat

Author(s):  
A. Verna ◽  
A. Schamel ◽  
J.-M. Pequignot
Author(s):  
Fadhil Al-Lami ◽  
R.G. Murray

Although the fine structure of the carotid body has been described in several recent reports, uncertainties remain, and the morphological effects of anoxia on the carotid body cells of the cat have never been reported. We have, therefore, studied the fine structure of the carotid body both in normal and severely anoxic cats, and to test the specificity of the effects, have compared them with the effects on adrenal medulla, kidney, and liver of the same animals. Carotid bodies of 50 normal and 15 severely anoxic cats (9% oxygen in nitrogen) were studied. Glutaraldehyde followed by OsO4 fixations, Epon 812 embedding, and uranyl acetate and lead citrate staining, were the technics employed.We have called the two types of glomus cells enclosed and enclosing cells. They correspond to those previously designated as chemoreceptor and sustentacular cells respectively (1). The enclosed cells forming the vast majority, are irregular in shape with many processes and occasional peripheral densities (Fig. 1).


2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (615) ◽  
pp. eaay9452 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandro Moreno-Domínguez ◽  
Patricia Ortega-Sáenz ◽  
Lin Gao ◽  
Olalla Colinas ◽  
Paula García-Flores ◽  
...  

Acute cardiorespiratory responses to O2 deficiency are essential for physiological homeostasis. The prototypical acute O2-sensing organ is the carotid body, which contains glomus cells expressing K+ channels whose inhibition by hypoxia leads to transmitter release and activation of nerve fibers terminating in the brainstem respiratory center. The mechanism by which changes in O2 tension modulate ion channels has remained elusive. Glomus cells express genes encoding HIF2α (Epas1) and atypical mitochondrial subunits at high levels, and mitochondrial NADH and reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation during hypoxia provides the signal that regulates ion channels. We report that inactivation of Epas1 in adult mice resulted in selective abolition of glomus cell responsiveness to acute hypoxia and the hypoxic ventilatory response. Epas1 deficiency led to the decreased expression of atypical mitochondrial subunits in the carotid body, and genetic deletion of Cox4i2 mimicked the defective hypoxic responses of Epas1-null mice. These findings provide a mechanistic explanation for the acute O2 regulation of breathing, reveal an unanticipated role of HIF2α, and link acute and chronic adaptive responses to hypoxia.


eLife ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dorit Hockman ◽  
Alan J Burns ◽  
Gerhard Schlosser ◽  
Keith P Gates ◽  
Benjamin Jevans ◽  
...  

The evolutionary origins of the hypoxia-sensitive cells that trigger amniote respiratory reflexes – carotid body glomus cells, and ‘pulmonary neuroendocrine cells’ (PNECs) - are obscure. Homology has been proposed between glomus cells, which are neural crest-derived, and the hypoxia-sensitive ‘neuroepithelial cells’ (NECs) of fish gills, whose embryonic origin is unknown. NECs have also been likened to PNECs, which differentiate in situ within lung airway epithelia. Using genetic lineage-tracing and neural crest-deficient mutants in zebrafish, and physical fate-mapping in frog and lamprey, we find that NECs are not neural crest-derived, but endoderm-derived, like PNECs, whose endodermal origin we confirm. We discover neural crest-derived catecholaminergic cells associated with zebrafish pharyngeal arch blood vessels, and propose a new model for amniote hypoxia-sensitive cell evolution: endoderm-derived NECs were retained as PNECs, while the carotid body evolved via the aggregation of neural crest-derived catecholaminergic (chromaffin) cells already associated with blood vessels in anamniote pharyngeal arches.


2012 ◽  
Vol 303 (9) ◽  
pp. C916-C923 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladislav V. Makarenko ◽  
Jayasri Nanduri ◽  
Gayatri Raghuraman ◽  
Aaron P. Fox ◽  
Moataz M. Gadalla ◽  
...  

H2S generated by the enzyme cystathionine-γ-lyase (CSE) has been implicated in O2 sensing by the carotid body. The objectives of the present study were to determine whether glomus cells, the primary site of hypoxic sensing in the carotid body, generate H2S in an O2-sensitive manner and whether endogenous H2S is required for O2 sensing by glomus cells. Experiments were performed on glomus cells harvested from anesthetized adult rats as well as age and sex-matched CSE+/+ and CSE−/− mice. Physiological levels of hypoxia (Po2 ∼30 mmHg) increased H2S levels in glomus cells, and dl-propargylglycine (PAG), a CSE inhibitor, prevented this response in a dose-dependent manner. Catecholamine (CA) secretion from glomus cells was monitored by carbon-fiber amperometry. Hypoxia increased CA secretion from rat and mouse glomus cells, and this response was markedly attenuated by PAG and in cells from CSE−/− mice. CA secretion evoked by 40 mM KCl, however, was unaffected by PAG or CSE deletion. Exogenous application of a H2S donor (50 μM NaHS) increased cytosolic Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i) in glomus cells, with a time course and magnitude that are similar to that produced by hypoxia. [Ca2+]i responses to NaHS and hypoxia were markedly attenuated in the presence of Ca2+-free medium or cadmium chloride, a pan voltage-gated Ca2+ channel blocker, or nifedipine, an L-type Ca2+ channel inhibitor, suggesting that both hypoxia and H2S share common Ca2+-activating mechanisms. These results demonstrate that H2S generated by CSE is a physiologic mediator of the glomus cell's response to hypoxia.


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