title: Defective carotid body function and impaired ventilatory responses to chronic hypoxia in mice partially deficient for hypoxia-inducible factor 1 alpha.
abstract: To investigate whether the transcriptional activator hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF-1) is required for ventilatory responses to hypoxia, we analyzed mice that were either wild type or heterozygous for a loss-of-function (knockout) allele at the Hif1a locus, which encodes the O(2)-regulated HIF-1 alpha subunit. Although the ventilatory response to acute hypoxia was not impaired in Hif1a(+/-) mice, the response was primarily mediated via vagal afferents, whereas in wild-type mice, carotid body chemoreceptors played a predominant role. When carotid bodies isolated from wild-type mice were exposed to either cyanide or hypoxia, a marked increase in sinus nerve activity was recorded, whereas carotid bodies from Hif1a(+/-) mice responded to cyanide but not to hypoxia. Histologic analysis revealed no abnormalities of carotid body morphology in Hif1a(+/-) mice. Wild-type mice exposed to hypoxia for 3 days manifested an augmented ventilatory response to a subsequent acute hypoxic challenge. In contrast, prior chronic hypoxia resulted in a diminished ventilatory response to acute hypoxia in Hif1a(+/-) mice. Thus partial HIF-1 alpha deficiency has a dramatic effect on carotid body neural activity and ventilatory adaptation to chronic hypoxia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA.
authors.forename: David D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Kline
authors.forename: Ying-Jie
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.forename: Dominador J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Manalo
authors.forename: Gregg L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Semenza
authors.forename: Nanduri R
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Prabhakar
mesh_terms: D000344:Afferent Pathways / Q000503:physiopathology; D000818:Animals; D002344:Carotid Body / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002628:Chemoreceptor Cells / Q000503:physiopathology; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000172:deficiency* / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D015870:Gene Expression; D006579:Heterozygote; D000860:Hypoxia / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D051793:Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1; D051795:Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000172:deficiency* / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D012143:Respiratory Physiological Phenomena; D014157:Transcription Factors; D014630:Vagus Nerve / Q000503:physiopathology
chemical_list: D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; C497443:Hif1a protein, mouse; D051793:Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1; D051795:Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors