Peripheral arterial chemoreceptors and the evolution of the carotid body

There has been a reduction in the distribution of peripheral respiratory O2 chemoreceptors from multiple, dispersed sites in fish and amphibia to a single dominant receptor site in birds and mammals. In the process, the cells in the fish gill associated with O2 chemosensing (5-HT containing neuroepithelial cells often found in association with ACh/catecholamine (CA) containing cells) are replaced by the glomus cells of the mammalian carotid body (which contain multiple putative neurotransmitter substances, including 5-HT, CA and ACh, all within the same cells), although this difference may be more superficial than first appears. While still highly speculative, these trends would appear to be correlated with the transition from aquatic respiration and bimodal breathing, and from animals with intra-cardiac shunts (two situations where the ability to sense O2 at multiple sites would be an advantage), to strictly air breathing in animals with no intra-cardiac shunts. It is also tempting to speculate that while the basic O2-sensing mechanism is the same for all receptor cells, the receptor groups in fish have evolved in such a way to make the responses of some more sensitive to changes in O2 delivery than others. The net result is that those receptors associated with the first gill arch of fish (the third branchial arch) become the carotid body in higher vertebrates associated with the regulation of ventilation and ensuring oxygen supply to the gas exchange surface. Those receptors associated with the second gill arch (fourth branchial arch) become the aortic bodies capable of sensing changes in oxygen content of the blood and primarily involved in regulating oxygen transport capacity through erythropoiesis and changes in blood volume.