Localization of enkephalin-like immunoreactivity in the cat carotid and aortic body chemoreceptors.

The purpose of this study was to determine if enkephalin-like immunoreactivity was present in the glomus cells of the carotid and aortic body peripheral arterial chemoreceptors. Cat carotid and aortic bodies were reacted with antisera to met- and leu-enkephalin using the indirect peroxidase-antiperoxidase immunocytochemical method of Sternberger (1979). Both the carotid and aortic bodies demonstrated clusters of immunoreactive cells for both met- and leu-enkephalin. Additionally, met-enkephalin-like immunoreactivity was observed in many of the dense-core vesicles of the glomus cells of the carotid body. The glomus cells of these chemoreceptors are known to contain catecholamines which may modulate chemoreceptor activity. The presence of opioid peptide-like substances co-existing with the glomus cell catecholamines, perhaps in the same vesicles, may have important implications for a trophic influence of these peptides on glomus cell chemoreceptor modulation.