Hurst G, Heath D, Smith P
J Pathol. 1985 Nov;147(3):181-7. doi: 10.1002/path.1711470306.
A qualitative and quantitative histological study was made of the carotid bodies obtained at necropsy from 47 subjects ranging in age from 14 to 100 years. With increasing age there is a loss of more than a third of the amount of glomic tissue with a diminution in the size of the lobules. In young people the basic histological pattern of clusters, composed of cores of chief cells with surrounding rims of sustentacular cells, has commonly superimposed on it prominence of the dark variant of chief cells. In middle-aged subjects there is proliferation of sustentacular cells which appear to merge imperceptibly into fibrosis of the lobules and becomes associated with diffuse or focal infiltrates of lymphocytes.
对47名年龄在14岁至100岁之间的受试者尸检时获取的颈动脉体进行了定性和定量组织学研究。随着年龄的增长，超过三分之一的球旁组织量减少，小叶尺寸减小。在年轻人中，由主细胞核心和周围支持细胞边缘组成的细胞簇的基本组织学模式通常叠加有主细胞暗变体的突出表现。在中年受试者中，支持细胞增殖，这些细胞似乎不知不觉地融合到小叶的纤维化中，并与淋巴细胞的弥漫性或局灶性浸润相关。
