RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article T1 A revisit to O2 sensing and transduction in the carotid body chemoreceptors in the context of reactive oxygen species biology A1 González, Constancio A1 Agapito Serrano, María Teresa A1 Rocher Martín, María Asunción A1 Gómez Niño, María Ángeles A1 Rigual Bonastre, Ricardo Jaime A1 Castañeda, Javier A1 Conde, J. V. A1 Obeso Cáceres, Ana María de la Luz K1 Neurofisiología AB Oxygen-sensing and transduction in purposeful responses in cells and organisms is of great physiologicaland medical interest. All animals, including humans, encounter in their lifespan many situations in whichoxygen availability might be insufficient, whether acutely or chronically, physiologically or pathologically.Therefore to trace at the molecular level the sequence of events or steps connecting the oxygendeficit with the cell responses is of interest in itself as an achievement of science. In addition, it is also ofgreat medical interest as such knowledge might facilitate the therapeutical approach to patients and todesign strategies to minimize hypoxic damage. In our article we define the concepts of sensors and transducers,the steps of the hypoxic transduction cascade in the carotid body chemoreceptor cells and alsodiscuss current models of oxygen- sensing (bioenergetic, biosynthetic and conformational) with theirsupportive and unsupportive data from updated literature. We envision oxygen-sensing in carotid bodychemoreceptor cells as a process initiated at the level of plasma membrane and performed by a hemoprotein,which might be NOX4 or a hemoprotein not yet chemically identified. Upon oxygen-desaturation,the sensor would experience conformational changes allosterically transmitted to oxygen regulated K+channels, the initial effectors in the transduction cascade. A decrease in their opening probability wouldproduce cell depolarization, activation of voltage dependent calcium channels and release of neurotransmitters.Neurotransmitters would activate the nerve endings of the carotid body sensory nerve to conveythe information of the hypoxic situation to the central nervous system that would command ventilationto fight hypoxia. PB Elsevier SN 1569-9048 YR 2010 FD 2010 LK http://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/7137 UL http://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/7137 LA eng NO Respiratory Physiology & Neurobiology 174 (2010) 317–330 NO Producción Científica DS UVaDOC RD 27-dic-2024