Carotid body sensory discharge and glomus cell HIF-1 alpha are regulated by a common oxygen sensor

The carotid body responds to both acute and more prolonged periods of lowered oxygen pressure. In the acute response, the decrease in oxygen pressure is coupled to increased afferent neural activity while the latter involves, at least in part, increase in the hypoxia inducible transcription factor HIF-1 alpha. In this paper, we summarize evidence that both the acute changes in neural activity and the longer term adaptive changes linked to HIF-1 alpha induction share the same oxygen sensor, mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase.