Cuantificación de glutatión en mitocondrias de los quimiorreceptores carotídeos en ratas Wistar.

The carotid bodies (CB), profusely irrigated and innervated, are made up of chemoreceptor cells (glomus cells) and sustentacular cells. These peripheral arterial chemoreceptors are able to sense the levels of pO2, pH, pCO2, and glucose in the arterial blood, whose sensory information is relayed to brainstem neurons to regulate ventilatory, circulatory and endocrine responses. Regarding the ability of CB to detect pO2, it is postulated that hypoxia alters the levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the mitochondria, affecting the glutathione system [reduced glutathione (GSH) and the oxidized one (GSSG)], causing modifications in the GSH/GSSG ratio, and the redox state in the mitochondria of the CB glomus cells. The aim of this work was to quantify the glutathione hypothesis of redox status through GSH and GSSG in the mitochondria isolated from the CB cells in healthy Wistar rats. The CB cells mitocondria isolated by the modified method by Saavedra-Molina (1997), and the glutathione levels were determined by spectrophotometry. The data obtained were: 11.45 ± 0.29 mM for total glutathione, 4.38 ± 0.10 mM for GSSG, and 7.07 ± 0.16 mM for GSH, so the index was 1.61 ± 0.17. The present Findings conclude that the reduced glutathione is higher than the oxided one, which means that the antioxidant mechanism in the mitochondria of the carotid chemoreceptors is preferred.