GAO CHEN , Lin

Carotid body glomus cells are multimodal arterial chemoreceptors able to sense and integrate changes in several physical and chemical parameters in the blood. These cells are also essential for O2 homeostasis. Glomus cells are prototypical peripheral O2 sensors necessary to detect hypoxemia and to elicit rapid compensatory responses...

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are important signaling molecules for physiologic processes such as acute response to hypoxia. However, reliable real-time ROS measurement in cells has been a long-standing methodological challenge. Here, we present a protocol to record acute changes in ROS production in sen- sory cells from mouse carotid body (CB)...

The carotid body (CB) is a key chemoreceptor organ in which glomus cells sense changes in blood O2, CO2, and pH levels. CB glomus cells have also been found to detect hypoglycemia in both non-primate mammals and humans. O2 and low-glucose responses share a common final pathway involving membrane depolarization, extracellular calcium influx,...

Acute O2sensing is a fundamental property of cells in the peripheral chemoreceptors,e.g. glomus cells in the carotid body (CB) and chromaffin cells in the adrenal medulla (AM),and is necessary for adaptation to hypoxia. These cells contain O2-sensitive ion channels, whichmediate membrane depolarization and transmitter release upon exposure to...

Substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) is highly sensitive to normal aging and selectively degenerates in Parkinson's disease (PD). Until now, molecular mechanisms behind SNpc aging have not been fully investigated using high throughput techniques. Here, we show early signs of aging in SNpc, which are more evident than in ventral tegmental area...

The hypoxic ventilatory response (HVR) is a life-saving reflex, triggered by the activation of chemoreceptor glomus cells in the carotid body (CB) connected with the brainstem respiratory center. The molecular mechanisms underlying glomus cell acute oxygen (O2) sensing are unclear. Genetic disruption of mitochondrial complex I (MCI) selectively...

Acute oxygen (O2) sensing is essential for adaptation of organisms to hypoxic environments or medical conditions with restricted exchange of gases in the lung. The main acute O2-sensing organ is the carotid body (CB), which contains neurosecretory chemoreceptor (glomus) cells innervated by sensory fibers whose activation by hypoxia elicits...

Aging in mammals leads to reduction in genes encoding the 45-subunit mitochondrial electron transport chain complex I. It has been hypothesized that normal aging and age-related diseases such as Parkinson's disease are in part due to modest decrease in expression of mitochondrial complex I subunits. By contrast, diminishing expression of...

The carotid body (CB) is a prototypical acute oxygen (O2)-sensing organ that mediates reflex hyperventilation and increased cardiac output in response to hypoxaemia. CB overactivation, secondary to the repeated stimulation produced by the recurrent episodes of intermittent hypoxia, is believed to contribute to the pathogenesis of sympathetic...