Chemoreceptor

A chemoreceptor, also known as chemosensor, is a specialized sensory receptor which transduces a chemical substance (endogenous or induced) to generate a biological signal.[1] This signal may be in the form of an action potential, if the chemoreceptor is a neuron,[2] or in the form of a neurotransmitter that can activate a nerve fiber if the chemoreceptor is a specialized cell, such as taste receptors,[3] or an internal peripheral chemoreceptor, such as the carotid bodies.[4] In physiology, a chemoreceptor detects changes in the normal environment, such as an increase in blood levels of carbon dioxide (hypercapnia) or a decrease in blood levels of oxygen (hypoxia), and transmits that information to the central nervous system which engages body responses to restore homeostasis.

In bacteria, chemoreceptors are essential in the mediation of chemotaxis.[5][6]

  1. ^ Kumar, Prem; Prabhakar, Nanduri R. (January 2012). "Peripheral Chemoreceptors: Function and Plasticity of the Carotid Body". Comprehensive Physiology. 2 (1): 141–219. doi:10.1002/cphy.c100069. ISBN 978-0-470-65071-4. PMC 3919066. PMID 23728973.
  2. ^ Rawson, Nancy E.; Yee, Karen K. (2006). "Transduction and Coding". Taste and Smell. Advances in Oto-Rhino-Laryngology. Vol. 63. pp. 23–43. doi:10.1159/000093749. ISBN 3-8055-8123-8. PMID 16733331.
  3. ^ Saunders, Cecil J.; Christensen, Michael; Finger, Thomas E.; Tizzano, Marco (22 April 2014). "Cholinergic neurotransmission links solitary chemosensory cells to nasal inflammation". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 111 (16): 6075–6080. Bibcode:2014PNAS..111.6075S. doi:10.1073/pnas.1402251111. PMC 4000837. PMID 24711432.
  4. ^ Nurse, Colin A.; Piskuric, Nikol A. (January 2013). "Signal processing at mammalian carotid body chemoreceptors". Seminars in Cell & Developmental Biology. 24 (1): 22–30. doi:10.1016/j.semcdb.2012.09.006. PMID 23022231.
  5. ^ Hazelbauer, Gerald L.; Falke, Joseph J.; Parkinson, John S. (January 2008). "Bacterial chemoreceptors: high-performance signaling in networked arrays". Trends in Biochemical Sciences. 33 (1): 9–19. doi:10.1016/j.tibs.2007.09.014. ISSN 0968-0004. PMC 2890293. PMID 18165013.
  6. ^ Bi, Shuangyu; Lai, Luhua (February 2015). "Bacterial chemoreceptors and chemoeffectors". Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences. 72 (4): 691–708. doi:10.1007/s00018-014-1770-5. ISSN 1420-9071. PMC 11113376. PMID 25374297. S2CID 15976114.