Summary
It is well known that carbonic anhydrase plays an important role in the physiological responses of carotidbody chemoreceptors to hypercapnia. Nevertheless the precise location of the enzyme within the carotid body has been a matter of controversy for many years. Using the Hansson method we found histochemical evidence that this enzyme is localized in type I cells. Type II cells and nerve terminals did not show enzymatic activity. These results allow us to define the carotid body as a secondary receptor in the context of the “acidic hypothesis” of transduction in the carotid body.
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Rigual, R., Iñiguez, C., Carreres, J. et al. Carbonic anhydrase in the carotid body and the carotid sinus nerve. Histochemistry 82, 577–580 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00489979
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00489979