Purinergic signalling mediates bidirectional crosstalk between chemoreceptor type I and glial‐like type II cells of the rat carotid body

KEY POINTS: Carotid body chemoreceptors are organized in clusters containing receptor type I and contiguous glial-like type II cells. While type I cells depolarize and release ATP during chemostimulation, the role of type II cells which express purinergic P2Y2 receptors (P2Y2Rs) and ATP-permeable pannexin-1 (Panx-1) channels, is unclear. Here, we show that in isolated rat chemoreceptor clusters, type I cell depolarization induced by hypoxia, …