Common carotid artery its right side below is the brachiocephalic trunk, and above, the trachea, the inferior thyroid veins, and the remains of the thymus; to its left side are the left vagus and phrenic nerves, left pleura, and lung. The left subclavian artery is posterior and slightly lateral to it. The cervical portions of the common carotids resemble each other so closely that one description will apply to both. Each vessel passes obliquely upward, from behind the sternoclavicular joint to the level of the upper border of the thyroid cartilage, where it divides. At the lower neck the two common carotid arteries
Carotid body been put forward as a hypoxia sensor. In normoxia, haem-oxygenase generates carbon monoxide (CO), CO activates the large conductance calcium-activated potassium channel, BK. Falls in CO that occur as a consequence of hypoxia would lead to closure of this potassium channel and this would lead to membrane depolarisation and consequence activation of the carotid body. A role for the "energy sensor" AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) has also been proposed in hypoxia sensing. This enzyme is activated during times of net energy usage and metabolic stress, including hypoxia. AMPK has a number of targets and it appears that, in the carotid