THE EFFECT OF SOME ACUTELY INDUCED ACIDBASE ALTERATIONS ON CAROTID BODY CHEMORECEPTOR SENSITIVITY TO CO2.

Carotid chemoreceptor activity has been monitored in the most direct way possible, that of recording nerve action potentials from Herings nerve. The responses of these chemoreceptors to CO2 as a stimulus has been compared under normal conditions and under conditions chosen for reducing the intracellular buffering capacity of these specialized cells. Early results indicate that, following partial buffer depletion of the chemoreceptor cells, their responses to any given CO2 value were greater than those observed prior to buffer depletion. The absence of a clear-cut indication of increased sensitivity to changes in pCO2 was discussed in relation to the intracellular acidity theory. Author