Common carotid artery the bifurcation. Carotid stenosis may occur in patients with atherosclerosis. The intima-media thickness of the carotid artery wall is a marker of subclinical atherosclerosis, it increases with age and with long-term exposure to particulate air pollution. Common carotid artery In anatomy, the left and right common carotid arteries (carotids) () are arteries that supply the head and neck with oxygenated blood; they divide in the neck to form the external and internal carotid arteries. The common carotid arteries are present on the left and right sides of the body. These arteries originate from different arteries but follow symmetrical courses. The
Carotid body may involve mitochondrial oxygen sensors and the haem-containing cytochromes that undergo reversible one-electron reduction during oxidative-phosphorylation. Haem reversibly binds O with an affinity similar to that of the carotid body, suggesting that haem containing proteins may have a role in O, potentially this could be one of the complexes involved in oxidative-phosphorylation. This leads to increases in reactive oxygen species and rises in intracellular Ca. However, whether hypoxia leads to an increase or decrease in reactive oxygen species is unknown. The role of reactive oxygen species in hypoxia sensing is also under question. The oxygen dependent enzyme haem-oxidase has also