title: Carotid body chemoreceptors, sympathetic neural activation, and cardiometabolic disease.
abstract: The carotid body (CB) is the main peripheral chemoreceptor that senses the arterial PO2, PCO2 and pH. In response to hypoxemia, hypercapnia and acidosis, carotid chemosensory discharge elicits reflex respiratory, autonomic and cardiovascular adjustments. The classical construct considers the CB as the main peripheral oxygen sensor, triggering reflex physiological responses to acute hypoxemia and facilitating the ventilatory acclimation to chronic hypoxemia at high altitude. However, a growing body of experimental evidence supports the novel concept that an abnormally enhanced CB chemosensory input to the brainstem contributes to overactivation of the sympathetic nervous system, and consequent pathology. Indeed, the CB has been implicated in several diseases associated with increases in central sympathetic outflow. These include hypertension, heart failure, sleep apnea, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and metabolic syndrome. Indeed, ablation of the CB has been proposed for the treatment of severe and resistant hypertension in humans. In this review, we will analyze and discuss new evidence supporting an important role for the CB chemoreceptor in the progression of autonomic and cardiorespiratory alterations induced by heart failure, obstructive sleep apnea, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and metabolic syndrome.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Neurobiología, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile. riturriaga@bio.puc.cl.
authors.forename: Rodrigo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Iturriaga
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Cardiorespiratory Control, Centro de Investigación Biomédica, Universidad Autónoma de Chile, Santiago, Chile. rodrigo.delrio@uautonoma.cl.|Dirección de Investigación, Universidad Científica del Sur, Lima, Peru. rodrigo.delrio@uautonoma.cl.
authors.forename: Rodrigo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Del Rio
authors.affiliation: Catedra de Neurología, Escuela de Medicina, Universidad de Valparaíso, Valparaíso, Chile. idiaquez@123.cl.
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Idiaquez
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiovascular Diseases, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA. somers.virend@mayo.edu.
authors.forename: Virend K
authors.initials: VK
authors.lastname: Somers
mesh_terms: D002344:Carotid Body / Q000737:chemistry / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008659:Metabolic Diseases / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D020181:Sleep Apnea, Obstructive / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013564:Sympathetic Nervous System / Q000503:physiopathology*