Stimulus interaction between CO and CO2 in the cat carotid body chemoreception

Since high PCO in the dark works like hypoxia in the carotid body chemoreceptors and since hypoxia shows a stimulus interaction with CO2, it is hypothesized that high PCO will show a similar interaction with PCO2 in the chemosensory excitation in the dark. We tested the hypothesis using cat carotid body perfused and superfused in vitro with Po2 of about 100 Torr. In one series, the chemosensory discharges were tested at three levels of PCO2 at high PCO of 500 Torr in the absence and presence of light. In the dark, normocapnia (PCO2 approximately 30 Torr) with high PCO promptly stimulated the sensory discharges to a peak, subsiding to a lower level. In hypocapnia (PCO2 approximately 18 Torr) with high PCO, all phases of activities were significantly lower than those of normocapnia, showing stimulus interaction. Hypercapnia saturated the activity with high PCO and seems to preclude a clear demonstration of stimulus interaction. In another series, an intermediate level of PCO (approximately 150 Torr), which showed a half-maximal activity in normoxia, showed a clear interaction with hypercapnia in the dark. With high PCO, bright light promptly reduced the activity to baseline at all PCO2 levels. This then increased somewhat to a steady-state. Withdrawal of the light was followed by a sharp rise in the activity to a peak which then fell to a somewhat lower level of steady-state. The peak discharge rate in the presence of light did not differ significantly from those of PCO2 alone.