Sympathectomy does not alter the response of carotid chemoreceptors to hypoxemia during carboxyhemoglobinemia or anemia.

We tested the effects of section of the sympathetic innervation to the carotid body on the responses of single carotid chemoreceptor fibers to carboxyhemoglobinemia (40-50%) and anemia (15-20% Hct) at various levels of paO2 (range: 20-450 Torr). Sympathectomy had virtually no effect on the steady-state response curves of carotid chemoreceptors to O2, either in normal cats or in those with reduced oxygen transport due to anemia or carboxyhemoglobinemia.