Carotid body chemoreceptor reflexes and their interactions in the seal

In the anesthetized spontaneously breathing harbor seal Phoca vitulina stimulation of the carotid body chemoreceptors by intracarotid injections of sodium cyanide or by hypoxic hypercapnic blood causes an increase in tidal volume, respiratory frequency, and respiratory minute volume. The heart rate invariably decreased. Experimental dives caused apnea and bradycardia. When the carotid bodies are stimulated within 10 s of the commencement of a dive, the chemoreceptor-respiratory response is abolished, but the chemoreceptor-cardioinhibitory response is considerably enhanced. Electrical stimulation of the central cut end of a superior laryngeal nerve also causes apnea and bradycardia; stimulation of the carotid body now fails to produce a respiratory response but the cardioinhibitory effect is enhanced. These results indicate that the carotid bodies cause reflexly hyperventilation and bradycardia, and that these responses are considerably modified by other inputs to the central nervous system.