Confocal immunofluorescence study of rat aortic body chemoreceptors and associated neurons in situ and in vitro

Aortic bodies (ABs) are putative peripheral arterial chemoreceptors, distributed near the aortic arch. Though presumed to be analogous to the well-studied carotid bodies (CBs), their anatomical organization, innervation, and function are poorly understood. By using multilabel confocal immunofluorescence, we investigated the cellular organization, innervation, and neurochemistry of ABs in whole mounts of juvenile rat vagus and recurrent …