Abstract
Some 25 years ago, Neil & O’Regan (1969, 1971) and Fidone & Sato (1970) demonstrated that electrical stimulation of the peripheral cut end of the carotid sinus nerve (CSN) inhibited spontaneous chemoreceptor activity recorded from nerve filaments split off from the main CSN trunk. These findings complemented the contemporary studies of Biscoe & Sampson (1968), who recorded spontaneous centrifugal neural activity from the central stump of the nerve, indicating the likely presence of an efferent or motor pathway in the CSN. Except for the finding that “efferent inhibition” of chemoreceptor discharge was mediated by unmyelinated, or C-fibers (Fidone & Sato, 1970), very little information has been forthcoming regarding the identity of the neurons or their mechanism of action in mediating this physiological phenomenon (O’Regan & Majcherczyk, 1983). McDonald & Mitchell (1981) postulated that efferent inhibition of the chemoreceptors was mediated by antidromic activity in afferent petrosal ganglion neurons, because the inhibitory effects persisted following chronic decentralization and sympathectomy. However, it was later pointed out that these careful surgical procedures would not have eliminated a group of presumptive autonomic neurons, first described by de Castro in 1926, which are present within the carotid body and along the CSN (see O’Regan & Majcherczyk, 1983, for review).
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Wang, ZZ., Stensaas, L.J., Bredt, D.S., Dinger, B.G., Fidone, S.J. (1994). Mechanisms of Carotid Body Inhibition. In: O’Regan, R.G., Nolan, P., McQueen, D.S., Paterson, D.J. (eds) Arterial Chemoreceptors. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 360. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-2572-1_35
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-2572-1_35
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