Abstract
Here, I use some observations which have already been published on central chemoreceptors to consider whether those receptors contain a mechanism for responding to CO2 when it is in an unhydrated molecular form. The question has already been asked about the peripheral receptors2,3 and they are easier to work with, so I shall first give my argument as applied to them and then I shall consider whether central receptors can be dealt with similarly. It emerges that in both sets of receptors CO2 must first be hydrated before it can excite and hydration is usually much accelerated by carbonic anhydrase. I shall use this finding to consider where CO2 acts within the chemoreceptors.
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© 1990 Plenum Press, New York
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Torrance, R.W. (1990). The Action of Carbon Dioxide in Central and Peripheral Chemoreceptors. In: Acker, H., Trzebski, A., O’Regan, R.G. (eds) Chemoreceptors and Chemoreceptor Reflexes. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-8938-5_6
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