Immunohistochemical distribution and colocalization of regulatory peptides in the carotid body

Current investigations on the immunohistochemical occurrence and co-occurrence of biogenic polypeptides in the mammalian carotid body were reviewed and extended by our own recent findings. The family of chromogranins and related peptides in glomus cells appears to have a widespread interspecies distribution, whereas other peptides investigated occur in a species-specific pattern. Immunoreactivity to antisera against opioids, which derive from the proenkephalin sequence, appears to be present in glomus cells of the rabbit, cat, dog, and a shrew. Conversely, glomus cells of pig and guinea pig predominantly are immunoreactive to cleavage products of prodynorphin, which co-occur in some cells with substance P and met-enkephalin-arg-phe, respectively. In the rat and Callithrix jacchus, opioid immunoreactivity is present in nerve fibres but not in glomus cells. Immunoreactivity to other peptides, such as neurotensin, cholecystokinin, neuropeptide Y, and galanin, is found only in one or two particular species. Neurotensin immunolabelling occurs in beagle dog glomus cells, which are known to lack substance P. Cholecystokinin immunoreactivity is present in glomus cells of dog and Callithrix, and co-exists with chromogranin A, neuropeptide Y, and substance P. Substance P appears to exist in both carotid body glomus cells and nerve fibres. Substance P immunoreactivity is present in glomus cells of all species investigated, except dog. Coexistence of substance P and calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) is demonstrated in nerve fibres of the guinea pig carotid body, which originate in the petrosal and jugular ganglia. Other peptides visualized immunohistochemically in mammalian carotid body nerve fibres are vasoactive intestinal peptide and neuropeptide Y. The functional significance of the various peptides present in the carotid body is discussed.