Hypoxia and N6,O2'-dibutyryladenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate, but not nerve growth factor, induce Na+ channels and hypertrophy in chromaffin-like arterial chemoreceptors.

Chronic hypoxia sensitizes the ventilatory reflex in mammals and causes enlargement of the carotid body, a peripheral arterial chemosensory organ. To investigate possible underlying mechanisms, in the absence of circulatory changes, we exposed cultures of dissociated rat carotid body containing the oxygen sensors (i.e., chromaffin-like glomus cells) to chronic hypoxia (6% O2) over a period of 2 weeks. After a delay of a few days, the Na+ current density in hypoxia-treated glomus cells increased significantly, reaching values up to 6 times that seen in normoxic (20% O2) controls. In addition the whole-cell capacitance, an indicator of cell size, was also significantly larger (3-4 times control) in glomus cells exposed to chronic hypoxia. Both effects were mimicked qualitatively by chronic treatment of normoxic cultures with N6,O2'-dibutyryladenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate, but not nerve growth factor, which is known to induce similar changes in the chromaffin cell line PC12. Thus, the physiological and morphological effects of chronic hypoxia on the carotid body in vivo may be due in part to a cAMP-mediated stimulation of Na+ channel expression and hypertrophy in the chemosensory glomus cells.