ORTEGA SÁENZ , Patricia

Classically considered a by-product of anaerobic metabolism, lactate is now viewed as a fundamental fuel for oxidative phosphorylation in mitochondria, and preferred over glucose by many tissues. Lactate is also a signaling molecule of increasing medical relevance. Lactate levels in the blood can increase in both normal and pathophysiological...

Células madre derivadas del cuerpo carotídeo y usos de las mismas caracterizadas porque son positivas para el marcador fenotípico GFAP (proteína acídica fibrilar de origen glial) y negativas para los marcadores fenotípicos TH (tirosina hidroxilasa) y nest

The Olfr78 gene encodes a G-protein-coupled olfactory receptor that is expressed in several ectopic sites. Olfr78 is one of the most abundant mRNA species in carotid body (CB) glomus cells. These cells are the prototypical oxygen (O2) sensitive arterial chemoreceptors, which, in response to lowered O2 tension (hypoxia), activate the respiratory...

Hemeoxygenase-2 (HO-2) is an antioxidant enzyme that can modulate recombinant maxi-K+ channels and has been proposed to be the acute O2 sensor in the carotid body (CB). We have tested the physiological contribution of this enzyme to O2 sensing using HO-2 null mice. HO-2 deficiency leads to a CB phenotype characterized by organ growth and...

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...

Carotid body glomus cells release transmitters in response to hypoxia due to the increase of excitability resulting from inhibition of O2 -regulated K+ channels. However, the mechanisms involved in the detection of changes of O2 tension are unknown. We have studied the interaction between glomus cell O2 sensitivity and inhibition of the...

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,...

Voltage-dependent K 1 channel gating is influenced by the permeating ions. Extracellular K 1 determines the occupation of sites in the channels where the cation interferes with the motion of the gates. When external [K 1] decreases, some K 1 channels open too briefly to allow the conduction of measurable current. Given that extracellular K 1 is...

Carotid body glomus cells release transmitters in response to hypoxia due to the increase of excitability resulting from inhibition of O2-regulated K+ channels. The mechanisms involved in the detection of changes of O2 tension are unknown. Inhibition of the mitochondrial electron transport chain (ETC) at proximal and distal complexes induces...

The carotid body (CB) is the principal arterial chemoreceptor that mediates the hyperventilatory response to hypoxia. Our understanding of CB function and its role in disease mechanisms has progressed considerably in the last decades, particularly in recent years. The sensory elements of the CB are the neuron-like glomus cells, which contain...

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...

O2 sensing is of critical importance for cell survival and adaptation of living organisms to changing environments or physiological conditions. O2-sensitive ion channels are major effectors of the cellular responses to hypoxia. These channels are preferentially found in excitable neurosecretory cells (glomus cells of the carotid body, cells in...

The SDHD gene encodes one of the two membrane-anchoring proteins of the succinate dehydrogenase (complex II) of the mitochondrial electron transport chain. This gene has recently been proposed to be involved in oxygen sensing because mutations that cause loss of its function produce hereditary familiar paraganglioma, a tumor of the carotid body...

Mammalian adaptation to oxygen flux occurs at many levels, from shifts in cellular metabolism to physiological adaptations facilitated by the sympathetic nervous system and carotid body (CB). Interactions between differing forms of adaptive response to hypoxia, including transcriptional responses orchestrated by the Hypoxia Inducible...

Background K+ channels of the TASK family are believed to participate in sensory transduction by chemoreceptor (glomus) cells of the carotid body (CB). However, studies on the systemic CB-mediated ventilatory response to hypoxia and hypercapnia in TASK1- and/or TASK3-deficient mice have yielded conflicting results. We have characterized the...

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...

Biotin is a water-soluble vitamin required for the function of carboxylases as well asfor the regulation of gene expression. Here, we report that biotin accumulates in unusually largeamounts in cells of arterial chemoreceptors, carotid body (CB) and adrenal medulla (AM). Weshow in a biotin-deficient rat model that the vitamin rapidly disappears...

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...

Mutations in any of the genes encoding the four subunits of succinate dehydrogenase (SDH), a mitochondrial membrane-bound enzyme complex that is involved in both the tricarboxylic acid cycle and the electron transport chain, can lead to a variety of disorders. Recognized conditions with such mutations include Leigh ...

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...

Antiparkinsonian carotid body (CB) cell therapy has been proven to be effective in rodent and nonhuman primate models of Parkinson's disease (PD), exerting trophic protection and restoration of the dopaminergic nigrostriatal pathway. These neurotrophic actions are mediated through the release of high levels of glial-cell-line-derived...