Natasha Kumar Publishes in Science

Congratulations to Natasha Kumar, Ph.D., Research Associate in the Bayliss Lab, whose paper, Regulation of breathing by CO₂ requires the proton-activated receptor GPR4 in retrotrapezoid nucleus neurons, whose paper appears in Science.

Abstract: Blood gas and tissue pH regulation depend on the ability of the brain to sense CO₂ and/or H⁺ and alter breathing appropriately, a homeostatic process called central respiratory chemosensitivity. We show that selective expression of the proton-activated receptor GPR4 in chemosensory neurons of the mouse retrotrapezoid nucleus (RTN) is required for CO₂-stimulated breathing. Genetic deletion of GPR4 disrupted acidosis-dependent activation of RTN neurons, increased apnea frequency, and blunted ventilatory responses to CO₂. Reintroduction of GPR4 into RTN neurons restored CO₂-dependent RTN neuronal activation and rescued the ventilatory phenotype. Additional elimination of TASK-2 (K_2P5), a pH-sensitive K⁺ channel expressed in RTN neurons, essentially abolished the ventilatory response to CO₂. The data identify GPR4 and TASK-2 as distinct, parallel, and essential central mediators of respiratory chemosensitivity.