Protein kinase C in the carotid body

TL;DRAbstract

INTRODUCTION AND METHODS. The carotid body is a paired chemosensory organ that responds to changes in the chemical stimuli in the arterial blood and reflexly, through the brain stem respiratory areas, adjust pulmonary ventilation to the current metabolic requirements. The hyperventilatory response to hypoxia is the prime example of the powerful carotid body function (1). The underlying cellular mechanisms of this function are elusive and are under a heated debate. In a previous study we found that phosphoinositide-specific phospholipase C (PLC) is present in the ex vivo normoxic carotid body and is elaborated in the hypoxic carotid body (2). One of the downstream signaling molecules, capable of triggering the cellular responses, activated by PLC-induced diacylglicerol is protein kinase C (PKC) (3). In this study we followed up this line of research and set out to establish the presence of PKC in the carotid body. We employed immunofluorescent light microscopy. Carotid bodies were disse

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