Expression of the cellular prion protein by mast cells in the human carotid body

ABSTRACT

Prion diseases are fatal neurologic disorders that can be transmitted by blood transfusion. The route for neuroinvasion following exposure to infected blood is not known. Carotid bodies (CBs) are specialized chemosensitive structures that detect the concentration of blood gasses and provide feedback for the neural control of respiration. Sensory cells of the CB are highly perfused and densely innervated by nerves that are synaptically connected to the brainstem and thoracic spinal cord, known to be areas of early prion deposition following oral infection. Given their direct exposure to blood and neural connections to central nervous system (CNS) areas involved in prion neuroinvasion, we sought to determine if there were cells in the human CB that express the cellular prion protein (PrP^C), a characteristic that would support CBs serving as a route for prion neuroinvasion. We collected CBs from cadaver donor bodies and determined that mast cells located in the carotid bodies express PrP^C and that these cells are in close proximity to blood vessels, nerves, and nerve terminals that are synaptically connected to the brainstem and spinal cord.

KEYWORDS:

• Carotid body
• dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus
• glossopharyngeal nerve
• intermediolateral cell column
• mast cell
• neurofilament
• neuroinvasion
• nucleus of the solitary tract
• prion protein
• synaptophysin

Acknowledgments

The authors want to thank the donors and their families for their selfless gift in the advancement of science and medical education.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/19336896.2023.2193128

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded by NIH RO1NS107246.