Comparative pathology of the enlarged carotid body

A histological study was made of the carotid bodies of man and various animal species from low and high altitudes. The animals studied were the alpaca, llama, cattle, guinea-pig, rabbit, dog, rat and man. As well as a qualitative microscopic study, a differential cell count was carried out to determine the percentage of the light and dark variants of chief cells and of sustentacular cells present. The investigation showed that the carotid bodies enlarge in cattle, guinea-pigs and rabbits living in the hypobaric hypoxia of high altitude to which they have to acclimatize. The carotid bodies are not enlarged in llamas and alpacas which show Darwinian adaptation to high altitude. There is no single histopathological appearance to be found with enlargement of the carotid body; on the contrary, there appears to be a characteristic histological reaction for different species. Thus, man shows hyperplasia of sustentacular cells, cattle show focal dark cell proliferation and rabbits, guinea-pigs, and dogs show striking hyperplasia and vacuolation of chief cells. In the rat, the enlargement of the carotid body is not characterized by the differential proliferation of any specific element and, as a result, it does not appear to be a good model for the human organ. In man and rat, carotid body enlargement occurs in response to systemic hypertension as well as to chronic hypoxaemia and the histological response to the 2 stimuli is the same, depending on the species. The normal rabbit carotid body is more reminiscent of that of man but, in this species, the reaction of glomic tissue differs from that of human glomic tissue.