title: Post-mortem changes in the normal rat carotid body: possible implications for human histopathology.
abstract: The carotid bodies in experimental animals contain only one variety of type I cells whilst in the human organ three varieties of this cell type have been described. We have examined the effects of post-mortem change on the structure of the type I cell of the rat carotid body. When the organ is examined immediately after death of the animal all of the type I cells exhibit similar morphology. With increasing delay in fixation of the tissue the type I cells undergo autolytic changes. Within 2 h of death the nuclei become hyperchromatic and the cytoplasm exhibits an increasing eosinophilia. In carotid bodies fixed 4 h post-mortem a further type I cell variant is seen in which the nucleus lacks a chromatin pattern and become pyknotic. We believe that previous descriptions of three varieties of type I cells in the human carotid body are based upon a description of post-mortem change. Furthermore, in any study of this highly oxygen dependent tissue it is essential that due account be taken of the delay between death and fixation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, University of Leicester, UK.
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Pallot
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Seker
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Abramovici
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002344:Carotid Body / Q000473:pathology*; D011180:Postmortem Changes; D051381:Rats; D014664:Vasodilation