Arterial Chemoreception

This book entitled Arterial Chemoreception is an edited compilation of the oral communications and posters presented at the IXth International Sym­ posium on Arterial Chemoreceptors held in Park City, Utah, from August 29th to September 3rd, 1988. The Symposium also saw the formal inau­ guration and first meeting of the International Society for Arterial Che­ moreception (ISAC). In all there were 87 presentations by 108 scientists from 18 countries. Authors making multiple presentations at Park City combined their results into single, longer papers for this volume. As a result this vol~me offers the reader 63 contributions of state-of-the-art research in this important and exciting field. Inasmuch as oxygen is the substrate sine qua non for the survival of all higher organisms, it is quite understandable that considerable interest sur­ rounds investigations into mechanisms responsible for detecting dwindling oxygen supplies in the organism. This interest has intensified as the newer techniques of cell, sub-cell, and molecular biology have become available. As detectors of insufficient oxygen in the arterial blood the arterial che­ moreceptors (carotid and aortic bodies) initiate many cardiopulmonary reflexes geared toward maintaining constant the delivery of oxygen to the tissues. These chemoreceptors, which also trigger secretions from the ad­ renal glands, are located near the carotid sinus and in the arch of the aorta.