Editing Chemoreceptor (section)

{{Short description|Sensory receptor that detects chemicals}}

A '''chemoreceptor''', also known as '''chemosensor''', is a specialized [[Sensory neuron|sensory receptor]] which [[transduction (physiology)|transduces]] a [[chemical substance]] ([[Endogeny (biology)|endogenous]] or induced) to generate a biological signal.<ref name="kumar">{{cite journal |last1=Kumar |first1=Prem |last2=Prabhakar |first2=Nanduri R. |title=Peripheral Chemoreceptors: Function and Plasticity of the Carotid Body |journal=Comprehensive Physiology |date=January 2012 |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=141–219 |doi=10.1002/cphy.c100069 |pmid=23728973 |pmc=3919066 |isbn=978-0-470-65071-4 }}</ref> This signal may be in the form of an [[action potential]], if the chemoreceptor is a [[neuron]],<ref name="Rawson 23–43">{{cite book |doi=10.1159/000093749 |chapter=Transduction and Coding |title=Taste and Smell |series=Advances in Oto-Rhino-Laryngology |year=2006 |last1=Rawson |first1=Nancy E. |last2=Yee |first2=Karen K. |volume=63 |pages=23–43 |pmid=16733331 |isbn=3-8055-8123-8 }}</ref> or in the form of a [[neurotransmitter]] that can activate a [[Axon|nerve fiber]] if the chemoreceptor is a specialized cell, such as [[taste receptor]]s,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Saunders |first1=Cecil J. |last2=Christensen |first2=Michael |last3=Finger |first3=Thomas E. |last4=Tizzano |first4=Marco |title=Cholinergic neurotransmission links solitary chemosensory cells to nasal inflammation |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |date=22 April 2014 |volume=111 |issue=16 |pages=6075–6080 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1402251111 |pmc=4000837|pmid=24711432 |bibcode=2014PNAS..111.6075S |doi-access=free }}</ref> or an internal [[peripheral chemoreceptor]], such as the [[carotid body|carotid bodies]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Nurse |first1=Colin A. |last2=Piskuric |first2=Nikol A. |title=Signal processing at mammalian carotid body chemoreceptors |journal=Seminars in Cell & Developmental Biology |date=January 2013 |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=22–30 |doi=10.1016/j.semcdb.2012.09.006 |pmid=23022231 }}</ref> In [[physiology]], a chemoreceptor detects changes in the normal environment, such as an increase in blood levels of [[carbon dioxide]] (hypercapnia) or a decrease in blood levels of [[oxygen]] (hypoxia), and transmits that information to the [[central nervous system]] which engages body responses to restore [[homeostasis]].

In [[bacteria]], chemoreceptors are essential in the mediation of [[chemotaxis]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Hazelbauer |first1=Gerald L. |last2=Falke |first2=Joseph J. |last3=Parkinson |first3=John S. |date=January 2008 |title=Bacterial chemoreceptors: high-performance signaling in networked arrays |journal=Trends in Biochemical Sciences |volume=33 |issue=1 |pages=9–19 |doi=10.1016/j.tibs.2007.09.014 |issn=0968-0004 |pmc=2890293 |pmid=18165013}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bi |first1=Shuangyu |last2=Lai |first2=Luhua |date=February 2015 |title=Bacterial chemoreceptors and chemoeffectors |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25374297/ |journal=Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences |volume=72 |issue=4 |pages=691–708 |doi=10.1007/s00018-014-1770-5 |issn=1420-9071 |pmid=25374297|s2cid=15976114 |pmc=11113376 }}</ref>