Question

What are central and peripheral chemoreceptors?

Answer 1

Chemoreceptors:

1. Chemoreceptors are sensors that monitor changes in CO₂, O₂, and pH and are categorized as central or peripheral based on anatomical location.
2. Chemoreceptors are proteins that bind with certain chemicals, or ligands, in the cell membrane in order to detect changes in the body's internal and external surroundings. Chemoreceptors are found in the tongue, nose, heart, and brain.
3. The basic function of gustation as a sort of chemoreception is the detection of tastants.
4. Taste receptors are found in the gustatory system. Aqueous chemical substances interact with the mouth's taste buds and other chemoreceptors to cause reactions.
5. The peripheral chemoreceptors, which respond more quickly, notice changes in the peripheral environment, whereas the central chemoreceptors adjust respiration depending on variations in CO₂/pH sensed in the brain. About two-thirds of the ventilatory response to CO₂/pH is caused by central chemoreceptor sites.

Central chemoreceptors:

1. Variations in the pH of the cerebrospinal fluid and changes in systemic CO₂ are both detected by central chemoreceptors.
2. Additionally, it appears that central chemoreceptors react to changes in cerebrospinal fluid pH directly, with responses to changes in systemic CO₂ resulting from those changes in cerebrospinal fluid pH.
3. Initially restricted to regions on the ventral side of the medulla, central chemoreceptors are now believed to be distributed throughout the brainstem, cerebellum, hypothalamus, and midbrain.

Peripheral chemoreceptors:

1. Peripheral chemoreceptors, sense changes in arterial blood oxygen levels and set off reflexes that are crucial for preserving homeostasis in hypoxemia.
2. The significance of peripheral chemoreceptor responses is their response to diverse physiological and pathological circumstances.
3. Hypoxia causes an increase in sensory discharge in both the carotid and aortic bodies.
4. The principal peripheral chemoreceptor, or carotid bodies, have been demonstrated to contribute more to a hypoxic response.