Carotid Body Inflammation: Role in Hypoxia and in the Anti-inflammatory Reflex
Alcayaga, Julio
Universidad de Chile
Journal
Physiology
ISSN
1548-9213
1548-9221
Open Access
closed
Volume
37
Start page
128
End page
140
Emergent evidence indicates that the carotid body (CB) chemoreceptor may sense systemic inflammatory molecules and is an afferent arm of the anti-inflammatory reflex. Moreover, a proinflammatory milieu within the CB is involved in the enhanced CB chemosensory responsiveness to oxygen following sustained and intermittent hypoxia. In this review, we focus on the physiopathological participation of CBs in inflammatory diseases, such as sepsis and intermittent hypoxia.