ULTRASTRUCTURE OF THE DENERVATED CAROTID BODY

¹ Departments of Physiology and Experimental Pathology, John Curtin School of Medical Research, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia

Carotid bodies have been examined with the electron microscope in twelve cats after cutting the sinus nerve and in fifteen cats after sympathectomy in order to determine which nerve endings were associated with axons in the sinus nerve and which with axons in the sympathetic nerves. The inter-relationship of the different cells was unaltered three months post-operatively and the Type I (glomus) cells were morphologically unchanged after either operation. Most nerve endings on Type I cells degenerated when the sinus nerve was cut and those nerve endings in Schwann cells, often near the endothelium, degenerated after post-ganglionic sympathectomy.

Note:

We thank Dr. E. H. Mercer for providing electron microscope facilities, and Miss N. Carroll and Miss J. Leightwood for their assistance. This work was supported by the National Heart Foundation of Australia.