Effects of chemostimuli on [Ca2+]i responses of rat aortic body type I cells and endogenous local neurons: comparison with carotid body cells
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Key points Mammalian aortic bodies (ABs) are putative peripheral chemoreceptor cells presumed to monitor the oxygen content of arterial blood, although their direct chemosensitivity has never been previously demonstrated at the cellular level.We used Ca2+ imaging to show for the first time that a variety of stimuli, including hypoxia, isohydric and acidic hypercapnia, and isocapnic acidosis, caused increases in cytosolic [Ca2+] in AB chemoreceptor cells.We also showed that some local neurons, known to be uniquely associated with these AB paraganglia in situ, generated robust [Ca2+]i responses to these chemostimuli, suggesting that they may subserve a sensory function.These results will help us better understand how AB cells sense the composition of the blood in their local environment near the heart, and how they communicate with sensory neurons to initiate homeostatic reflexes during situations of low oxygen supply, like anaemia.
