Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

History and Recent Progress in Carotid Body Studies

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Morphofunctional and Neurochemical Aspects of the Mammalian Carotid Body

Part of the book series: Advances in Anatomy, Embryology and Cell Biology ((ADVSANAT,volume 237))

  • 106 Accesses

Abstract

This chapter describes the history of the carotid body (CB) and the subsequent research on its structure and function. The chronological development of ideas about its anatomical structure as a ganglion, the first descriptions of its glandular nature as a ball of highly vascular tissue (glomus), the discovery of its neural crest origin and relevant embryological views as a true paraganglion toward a more conclusive understanding of its sensory nature as a chemoreceptor for chemical changes in blood have been consistently demonstrated. The knowledge of the CB neurochemistry, physiology and pathophysiology has progressed immensely in the past century and a large and compelling body of evidence for the presence of a neurogenic niche in the CB has accumulated over the last two decades, thus underlying its function and possibility for the development of cell replacement therapies.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Acker H, Fidone S, Pallot D, Eyzaguirre C, Lübbers DW, Torrance RW (1977) Chemoreception in the carotid body. Springer-Verlag, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Alfes H, Kindler J, Knoche H, Matthiessen D, Möllmann H, Pagnucco R (1977) The biogenic amines in the carotid body. Prog Histochem Cytochem 10:1–69

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Andersch CS (1797) Tractatio anatomico-physiologica de nervis corporis humani aliquibus, In: Andersch EP (ed). Pars altera, Regiomonti, August Fasch, pp 187 (cited in Pick J (1959) The discovery of the carotid body. J Hist Med Allied Sci 14:61–73)

    Google Scholar 

  • Arjona V, Mínguez-Castellanos A, Montoro RJ, Ortega A, Escamilla F, Toledo-Aral JJ, Pardal R, Méndez-Ferrer S, Martín JM, Pérez M, Katati MJ, Valencia E, García T, López-Barneo J (2003) Autotransplantation of human carotid body cell aggregates for treatment of Parkinson’s disease. Neurosurgery 53:321–328

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Arnold J (1865) Ãœber die Struktur des Ganglion intercaroticum. Virch Arch Path Anat 33:190–209

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Biscoe TJ (1971) Carotid body: structure and function. Physiol Rev 51:437–495

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • De Castro F (1926) Sur la structure et l’innervation de la glande intercarotidienne (glomus caroticum) de l’homme et des mammifères, et sur un noveau système d’innervation autonome du nerf glossopharyngien. Trab Lab Invest Biol Univ Madrid 24:365–432

    Google Scholar 

  • De Castro F (1928) Sur la structure et l’innervation du sinus carotidien de l’homme et des mammifères. Nouveaux faits sur l’innervation et la fonction du glomus caroticum. Trab Lab Rech Biol 25:331–380

    Google Scholar 

  • Eyzaguirre C, Fitzgerald RS, Lahiri S, Zapata P (1983) Arterial chemoreceptors. In: Shepherd JT, Abboud FM (eds) Handbook of physiology, vol 3. Williams &Wilkins, Baltimore, pp 557–621

    Google Scholar 

  • Fitzgerald RS (2009) Oxygen and carotid body chemotransduction: the cholinergic hypothesis—a brief history and new evaluation. Resp Physiol 120:89–104

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • González C, Almaraz L, Obeso A, Rigual R (1994) Carotid body chemoreceptors: from natural stimuli to sensory discharges. Physiol Rev 74:829–898

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • González C, Conde SV, Gallego-Martín T, Olea E, González-Obeso E, Ramirez M, Yubero S, Agapito MT, Gomez-Niñno A, Obeso A, Rigual R, Rocher A (2014) Fernando de Castro and the discovery of the arterial chemoreceptors. Front Neuroanat 8:25

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Grimley PM, Glenner GG (1968) Ultrastructure of the human carotid body: a perspective on the mode of chemoreception. Circulation 37:648–665

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Haller AV (1747, 1749) In Disputationum Anatomicarum Selectorum, vols II and IV. Abram Vandenhoeck, Göttingen

    Google Scholar 

  • Haller AV (1762) Elementa Physiologiae Corporis Humani, vol 4. Grasset, Lausanne

    Google Scholar 

  • Heath D (1991) The human carotid body in health and disease. J Pathol 164:1–8

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Heath D, Smith P, Fitch R, Harris P (1985) Comparative pathology of the enlarged carotid body. J Comp Pathol 95:259–271

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hering HE (1927) Die Karotissinusreflexe auf Herz und Gefässe vom normal-physiologischen, pathologisch-physiologischen und klinischen Standpunkt. Steinkopff, Dresden

    Google Scholar 

  • Heymans C, Bouckaert JJ, Regniers P (1933) Le sinus carotidien. G. Doin, Paris, p 334

    Google Scholar 

  • Iturriaga R, Alcayaga J (2004) Neurotransmission in the carotid body: transmitters and modulators between glomus cells and petrosal ganglion nerve terminals. Brain Res Rev 47:46–53

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kastchenko N (1887) Das Schicksal der embryonalen Schlundspalten bei Säugetieren. Arch Mikrosk Anat 30:1–26

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kohn A (1900) Ãœber den Bau und die Entwicklung der sogenanten Carotisdrüse. Arch Mikrosk Anat 56:81–148

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kohn A (1903) Die Paraganglien. Arch Mikrosk Anat 62:263–365

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kumar P, Prabhakar NR (2012) Peripheral chemoreceptors: function and plasticity of the carotid body. Compr Physiol 2:141–219

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Kusakabe T, Matsuda H, Hayashida Y (2005) Hypoxic adaptation of the rat carotid body. Histol Histopathol 20:987–997

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Le Douarin N, Le Lievre C, Fontaine J (1972) Recherches experimentales sur l’origine embryologique du corps carotidien chez les oiseaux. C R Hebd Seances Acad Sci Ser D 275:583–586

    Google Scholar 

  • López-Barneo J, Pardal R, Ortega-Sáenz P, Durán R, Villadiego J, Toledo-Aral JJ (2009) The neurogenic niche in the carotid body and its applicability to antiparkinsonian cell therapy. J Neural Transm 116:975–982

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Luschka H (1862) Ãœber die drüsenartige Natur des sogenannten Ganglion intercaroticum. Arch Anat Physiol Lpz 405:413–430

    Google Scholar 

  • Mayer AFJK (1833) Ãœber ein neuentdecktes Ganglion im Winkel der aussern und inner Carotis, beim Menschen und den Säugetieren (Ganglion intercaroticum). Notizen Geb Nat Heilk 36:8–9

    Google Scholar 

  • McDonald DM (1981) Peripheral chemoreceptors. Structure-function relationships of the carotid body. In: Hornbein TF (ed) Regulation of breathing. Dekker, New York, pp 105–319

    Google Scholar 

  • McDonald DM, Mitchell RA (1975) The innervation of glomus cells, ganglion cells and blood vessels in the rat carotid body: a quantitative ultrastructural study. J Neurocytol 4:177–230

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mönckeberg IG (1905) Die Tumoren der Glandula carotica. Beitr Pathol Anat Allg Pathol 38:1–66

    Google Scholar 

  • Neubauer IE (1772) Descriptio anatomica nervorum cardiacorum. Fleischer, Frankfurt and Leipzig

    Google Scholar 

  • Nurse CA (2005) Neurotransmission and neuromodulation in the chemosensory carotid body. Auton Neurosci 120:1–9

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nurse CA (2010) Neurotransmitter and neuromodulatory mechanisms at peripheral arterial chemoreceptors. Exp Physiol 95:657–667

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pardal R, Ortega-Sáenz P, Durán R, López-Barneo J (2007) Glia-like stem cells sustain physiologic neurogenesis in the adult mammalian carotid body. Cell 131:364–377

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pardal R, Ortega-Sáenz P, Durán R, Platero-Luengo A, López-Barneo J (2010) The carotid body, a neurogenic niche in the adult peripheral nervous system. Arch Ital Biol 148:95–105

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pearse AGE, Polak JM, Rost FWD, Fontaine J, Le Lievre C, Le Douarin N (1973) Demonstration of the neural crest origin of Type I (APUD) cells in the avian carotid body, using a cytochemical marker system. Histochemie 34:191–203

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pick J (1959) The discovery of the carotid body. J Hist Med Allied Sci 14:61–73

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Prabhakar NR, Peng YJ (2017) Oxygen sensing by the carotid body: past and present. In: Halpern H, LaManna J, Harrison D, Epel B (eds) Oxygen transport to tissue XXXIX. vol 977. Springer, Cham, pp 3–8

    Google Scholar 

  • Rey S, Iturriaga R (2004) Endothelins and nitric oxide: vasoactive modulators of carotid body chemoreception. Curr Neurovasc Res 1:465–473

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Stieda L (1881) Untersuchungen über die Entwicklung der Glandula thymus, Glandula thyroidea und Glandula carotica. Engelmann, Leipzig

    Google Scholar 

  • Taube H (1743) De Vera Nervi Intercostali Origine. Abram Vandenhoeck, Goettingen

    Google Scholar 

  • Toledo-Aral JJ, Méndez-Ferrer S, Pardal R, López-Barneo J (2002) Dopaminergic cells of the carotid body: physiological significance and possible therapeutic applications in Parkinson’s disease. Brain Res Bull 57:847–853

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Valentin G (1833) Ãœber das Ganglion intercaroticum. Wiss Ann Ges Heilk 26:398–407

    Google Scholar 

  • Verna A (1979) Ultrastructure of the carotid body in the mammals. Int Rev Cytol 60:271–330

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wang Z-Y, Bisgard GE (2002) Chronic hypoxia-induced morphological and neurochemical changes in the carotid body. Microsc Res Tech 59:168–177

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Watzka M (1931) Ãœber die Verbindungen in Kretorischer und neurogenen Organe. Anat Anz Erganz Z 71:185–190

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anatomy and Histology, Faculty of Medicine, Medical University of Sofia, Sofia, Bulgaria

    Nikolai E. Lazarov

  2. Institute of Neurobiology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria

    Dimitrinka Y. Atanasova

Authors
  1. Nikolai E. Lazarov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Dimitrinka Y. Atanasova
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nikolai E. Lazarov .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Lazarov, N.E., Atanasova, D.Y. (2023). History and Recent Progress in Carotid Body Studies. In: Morphofunctional and Neurochemical Aspects of the Mammalian Carotid Body. Advances in Anatomy, Embryology and Cell Biology, vol 237. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-44757-0_2

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation