title: Nitric Oxide Deficit Is Part of the Maladaptive Paracrine-Autocrine Response of the Carotid Body to Intermittent Hypoxia in Sleep Apnea.
abstract: The carotid body functions to maintain the blood gas homeostasis, whereas anomalous carotid chemoreceptor activities could be pathogenic in patients with sleep apnea. Recent findings suggest an upregulation of renin-angiotensin system (Lam SY, Liu Y, Ng KM et al. Exp Physiol 99:220-231, 2014), which could lead to inflammation in the carotid body during intermittent hypoxia (Lam SY, Liu Y, Ng KM et al. Histochem Cell Biol 137:303-317, 2012). In addition, the level of nitric oxide detected in the carotid body was significantly decreased following intermittent hypoxia for days. These locally regulated mechanisms are proposed to be a significant part of the hypoxia-mediated maladaptive changes of the carotid body, which could play a role in the pathophysiological cascade of sleep apnea in patients with an overactivity of the chemoreflex.
authors: Department of Physiology, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong, China, fungml@hku.hk.
authors: M L
authors: ML
authors: Fung
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D000818:Animals; D002344:Carotid Body / Q000502:physiology*; D000860:Hypoxia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D009569:Nitric Oxide / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012891:Sleep Apnea Syndromes / Q000503:physiopathology*
chemical_list: D009569:Nitric Oxide