The Carotid Bodies of the Lyon Hypertensive Rats

In recent years, several studies have been performed to examine the influence of systemic hypertension on function and morphology of the carotid bodies. It has been shown that both function and morphology of these peripheral arterial chemoreceptors are altered. Most morphological investigations were carried out in rats. Up to now, the carotid bodies (CB) of 3 strains with spontaneous hypertension (OKAMOTO-AOKI (SHR), New Zealand (GH), Milan (MH), and those with renal (secondary) hypertension have been examined (Alho et al., 1984; Barer et al., 1987; Habeck et al., 1985, 1987a; Pallot and Barer, 1985; Smith et al., 1984). Depending on the strain used different morphological and biochemical findings were obtained.