Research Institute of Human Morphology, 117418 Moscow, Russia.
Int J Mol Sci. 2021 Jul 30;22(15):8222. doi: 10.3390/ijms22158222.
The evolutionary and ontogenetic development of the carotid body is still understudied. Research aimed at studying the comparative morphology of the organ at different periods in the individual development of various animal species should play a crucial role in understanding the physiology of the carotid body. However, despite more than two centuries of study, the human carotid body remains poorly understood. There are many knowledge gaps in particular related to the antenatal development of this structure. The aim of our work is to study the morphological and immunohistochemical characteristics of the human carotid body in the antenatal and postnatal periods of development. We investigated the human carotid bodies from 1 embryo, 20 fetuses and 13 adults of different ages using samples obtained at autopsy. Immunohistochemistry revealed expression of βIII-tubulin and tyrosine hydroxylase in the type I cells and nerve fibers at all periods of ontogenesis; synaptophysin and PGP9.5 in the type I cells in some of the antenatal cases and all of the postnatal cases; 200 kDa neurofilaments in nerve fibers in some of the antenatal cases and all of the postnatal cases; and GFAP and S100 in the type II cells and Schwann cells in some of the antenatal cases and all of the postnatal cases. A high level of tyrosine hydroxylase in the type I cells was a distinctive feature of the antenatal carotid bodies. On the contrary, in the type I cells of adults, the expression of tyrosine hydroxylase was significantly lower. Our data suggest that the human carotid body may perform an endocrine function in the antenatal period, while in the postnatal period of development, it loses this function and becomes a chemosensory organ.
颈动脉体的进化和个体发生发育仍未得到充分研究。旨在研究不同动物物种个体发育不同时期器官比较形态的研究，对于理解颈动脉体的生理学应该起着至关重要的作用。然而，尽管已经进行了两个多世纪的研究，人类颈动脉体仍然知之甚少。特别是与该结构的产前发育有关的知识空白很多。我们的工作旨在研究人类颈动脉体在产前和产后发育过程中的形态和免疫组织化学特征。我们使用尸检获得的样本研究了来自 1 个胚胎、20 个胎儿和 13 个不同年龄的成年人的人类颈动脉体。免疫组织化学显示，在所有发育阶段，I 型细胞和神经纤维均表达βIII-微管蛋白和酪氨酸羟化酶；在一些产前病例和所有产后病例的 I 型细胞中表达突触素和 PGP9.5；在一些产前病例和所有产后病例的神经纤维中表达 200 kDa 神经丝；在一些产前病例和所有产后病例的 II 型细胞和施万细胞中表达 GFAP 和 S100。I 型细胞中酪氨酸羟化酶的高水平是产前颈动脉体的一个显著特征。相反，在成年 I 型细胞中，酪氨酸羟化酶的表达显著降低。我们的数据表明，人类颈动脉体在产前可能具有内分泌功能，而在发育的产后阶段，它失去了这种功能，成为一个化学感觉器官。
