Abstract
Tachykinins are a family of neuropeptides that share a common C-terminal amino acid sequence. Substance P (SP) is the most frequently studied tachykinin peptide. SP-like immunoreactivity has been demonstrated in glomus cells and nerve terminals in the cat carotid body (1,2). Exogenous SP augments the sensory discharge of the carotid body both in vivo (2,3) and in vitro (4), as well as the hypoxia-induced chemoreceptor response (5,6). In addition, antagonists specific to tachykinins abolish or attenuate chemoreceptor responses to hypoxia but not to hypercapnia (7). These observations implicate tachykinins, especially SP, are involved in the genesis of the hypoxic response of the carotid body. In a recent study (6), however, it was reported that SP antagonists do not affect the chemoreceptor response to low Po2. This prompted us to reinvestigate in detail the effect of SP antagonist on carotid chemoreceptor responses to hypoxia.
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