Submitted on April 23, 2003
Accepted on June 18, 2003
CAROTID BODY AS A MODEL FOR AGING STUDIES: IS THERE A LINK BETWEEN OXYGEN AND AGING?
Camillo Di Giulio1*, Marisa Cacchio1, Giuseppina Bianchi1, Cinzia Rapino1, and Carmine Di Ilio2
1 Department of Biomedical Sciences, University "G. d'Annunzio", Chieti, Chieti, Italy
2 Centre of Excellence for Aging, University "G. d'Annunzio", Chieti, Chieti, Italy
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: digiulio{at}unich.it.
Carotid body (CB) is the site in the body which triggers awareness of the change blood oxygen pressure. Aging is characterized by a decrease in oxygen supply to tissues, in reduction of tissue PO2 and in the activity of several enzymes and metabolic factors. The ventilatory response to hypoxia is attenuated with aging related to the age-dependent structure modifications including the basal reduction of oxygen requirements. The aged CB shows an increase in extracellular matrix, a reduction in number and volume of type I cells and a reduction in volume of mitochondria was consistent with and similar to that during chronic hypoxia: phenomenon seems to operate also during aging as shown by the reduced volume of mitochondria in the aged CB. During chronic hypoxia, CB hypertrophy is less evident in aged CB than in young CB. Therefore, hypoxia and aging seem to share some type of link at different cell sites. CB represents an experimental model adequate for studying aging processes, because of its high blood flow and metabolism, and thus it serves as a means to understand the oxygen modulation of the aging process.
