@article{oai:air.repo.nii.ac.jp:00001544,
 author = {FUKUHARA, Kohko and YOSHIZAKI, Katsuaki and WU, Yi and SENOO, Haruki and OHTOMO, Kazuo},
 issue = {1},
 journal = {秋田医学},
 month = {May},
 note = {Mammalian hibernators experience drastic changes in vital signs such as
body temperature, respiratory rate, and heart rate during hibernation because of periodic
arousals during which vital signs return to non-hibernating levels. The carotid body, an
arterial chemoreceptor organ regulating respiration, contains several neuroactive substances.
However, little is known about changes of neuroactive substances in the carotid
body during hibernation. Immunohistochemical study using antibodies against neuroactive
substances, namely tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), methionine-enkephalin (MetEnk)
, and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) showed that immunoreactivities for TH,
Met-Enk and GABA in type I cells of carotid bodies in hibernating animals increased in
comparison with those in non-hibernating ones. Furthermore, we monitored vital signs
of chipmunks during arousal from hibernation, and found that the heart rate increased
exponentially and the respiratory rate increased linearly as body temperature gradually
increased. Subsequent examination of TH-immunoreactivity in carotid bodies during
arousal showed that the TH-immunoreactivity decreased during the course of arousal
from hibernation. The type I cells enlarged in size during hibernation, but the sinusoidal
capillaries around them did not. These results suggest that several neuroactive substances
in type I cells playa significant role in the regulation of chemoreception during
the hibernating physiological state.},
 pages = {71--81},
 title = {Immunohistochemical and Morphological Changes in Chipmunk Carotid Body during Hibernaiton},
 volume = {31},
 year = {2004}
}