Expression and Function of Presynaptic Neurotransmitter Receptors in the Chemoafferent Pathway of the Rat Carotid Body

Hypoxic chemotransmission in the carotid body (CB) is mediated by the release of neurotransmitters (NTs) from type I cells onto adjacent sensory (petrosal) nerve endings (Gonzalez et al. 1994; Urena et al. 1994). In the rat, there is strong evidence of a role for the co-release of fast-acting neurotransmitters, including acetylcholine (ACh) and ATP (Zhang et al. 2000), in chemosensory signalling. In contrast, little is known about the roles of …