1 Carotid Body: The Primary Peripheral Arterial Chemoreceptor -- 2 History and Recent Progress in Carotid Body Studies -- 3 General Morphology of the Mammalian Carotid Body -- 4 Structural Plasticity of Carotid Bodies -- 5 Mechanisms of Chemosensory Transduction at the Carotid Body -- 6 Neurochemical Anatomy of the Mammalian Carotid Body -- 7 Neurochemical Plasticity of Carotid Bodies -- 8 Carotid Body Dysfunction and Mechanisms of Disease -- 9 Stem Cell Niche in the Mammalian Carotid Body -- 10 Carotid Body and Cell Therapy -- 11 The Carotid Body: a Tiny Structure with Many Roles.

This new volume of the book series Advances in Anatomy, Embryology and Cell Biology provides a complete and exhaustive overview of the morphofunctional organization of the mammalian carotid body, a polymodal chemosensory organ responsible for the maintenance of blood gas homeostasis. The authors review the state of the art of the neurochemical anatomy of carotid bodyś cell populations with a special reference to their structural and neurochemical plasticity. The essential role of this organ in the generation, progression and maintenance of cardiorespiratory and metabolic diseases in humans and other mammals is presented. Finally, the book summarizes current knowledge on the stem cell niche in the mammalian carotid body and discusses its contribution to replacement cell therapy and other potential applications in translational research. This book represents an essential reading for physiologists, anatomists, cell, and developmental biologists, as well as physicians, veterinarians, and biomedical researchers.