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(Circulation Research. 2007;101:965.)
© 2007 American Heart Association, Inc.

Editorials

An ASIC Channel for Acid Chemotransduction

José R. López-López, M. Teresa Pérez-García

From the Departamento de Bioquímica y Biología Molecular y Fisiología, Facultad de Medicina e IBGM, Universidad de Valladolid y CSIC, Valladolid, Spain.

Correspondence to Dr Teresa Perez-Garcia, Universidad de Valladolid, Department of Biochemistry and Physiology, Facultad de Medicina, c/ Ramon y Cajal 7, Valladolid 47005, Spain. E-mail tperez@ibgm.uva.es

See related article, pages 1009–1019

Key Words: carotid body chemoreceptors • CO₂/pH sensing • ion channels

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

Spontaneous breathing requires feedback controls in which detection of blood gas and pH are critical. While O₂ detection is performed by pheripheral chemoreceptors, CO₂/pH-sensitive chemoreceptors are in the carotid bodies (CBs), but major sites are also within the brain (the central chemoreceptors [CCR]). CO₂/pH signals are related to the acid-base status of the blood and reflect the adequacy of breathing to metabolism. Small changes in CO₂/pH can affect breathing, so that a rise in PCO₂ as small as 1 mm Hg produces an evident change in ventilation.¹ Such a high CO₂ sensitivity relies in the inherent properties of CO₂/pH-sensing molecules present both in CB and CCR cells, as shown in several recent studies on CO₂/pH sensing ion channels and receptors.^2,3 Functional properties of most proteins can be regulated by changes in pH, as this would only require 1 or a few titratable residues of the molecule, whose protonation can lead to conformation changes that translate into changes in activity. However, to define whether those molecules have a relevant role in CO₂/pH chemoreception, some more criteria should be met, including their range of pH sensitivity, their location in chemoreceptor cells, and their functional contribution to the integrated chemoreceptor response. In this regard, the molecular characterization of pH-sensitive channels and transporters has progressed considerably within the last years, but conclusive evidences of their contribution to acid chemotransduction are not so well established for many of them. The main reason for this delay is the fact . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Related Article:

Acid-Sensing Ion Channels Contribute to Transduction of Extracellular Acidosis in Rat Carotid Body Glomus Cells

Zhi-Yong Tan, Yongjun Lu, Carol A. Whiteis, Christopher J. Benson, Mark W. Chapleau, and Francois M. Abboud
Circ. Res. 2007 101: 1009-1019. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]