Ventilatory control is a precisely tuned physiologic process that maintains systemic oxygen and carbon dioxide levels within very narrow ranges required for appropriate cellular function. This delicate balance has resulted in a complex system that senses changes in oxygen (O2), carbon dioxide (CO2), and pH in arterial blood and in the brain and responds to these changes through compensatory res...

Using a quantitative assay for measuring chemotaxis, we tested a variety of sugars and sugar derivatives for their ability to attract Escherichia coli bacteria. The most effective attractants, i.e., those that have thresholds near 10(-5) M or below, are N-acetyl-d-glucosamine, 6-deoxy-d-glucose, d-fructose, d-fucose, 1-d-glycerol-beta-d-galactoside, galactitol, d-galactose, d-glucosamine, d-glu...

The goal of this study was to determine if physiological levels of cardiopulmonary vagal afferent activity modulate carotid chemoreceptor and baroreceptor reflexes. In anesthetized, ventilated dogs, the aortic nerves and the cervical sympathetic trunks were cut, and atropine was administered so that vagotomy would interrupt only cardiopulmonary afferent impulses. Reflex vascular responses were ...

The chemosensory capacity of the somatosensory system relies on the appropriate expression of chemoreceptors, which detect chemical stimuli and transduce sensory information into cellular signals. Knowledge of the complete repertoire of the chemoreceptors expressed in human sensory ganglia is lacking. This study employed the next-generation sequencing technique (RNA-Seq) to conduct the first ex...

Chemoreceptors provide sensory specificity and sensitivity that enable motile bacteria to seek optimal positions for growth and metabolism in gradients of various physicochemical cues. Despite the abundance of chemoreceptors, little is known regarding the sensory specificity and the exact contribution of individual chemoreceptors to the lifestyle of bacteria. Azospirillum brasilense are motile ...