Carotid body oxygen sensing.

J López-Barneo1, P Ortega-Sáenz, R Pardal

  • 1Instituto de Biomedicina de Sevilla, Edificio de Laboratorios, Segunda planta, Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocío, Avenida Manuel Siurot s/n, 41013 Sevilla, Spain. lbarneo@us.es

Summary

The carotid body senses oxygen levels via glomus cells. In chronic hypoxia, sustentacular cells act as neural stem cells, differentiating into glomus cells and contributing to organ growth.

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