Chemoreceptor Firing-Rate Bench

The carotid body is the body's fastest oxygen sensor, and the whole story happens inside one specialised cell type: the glomus (type I) cell. This 2D bench models the same molecular cascade as the 3D cell viewer — background O2-sensitive potassium channels closing as arterial oxygen falls, the resulting membrane depolarization, voltage-gated calcium influx and the saturating rise in afferent nerve firing — but renders it as three independently-computed physiology-lab instruments instead of a rendered cell: a live Hill-curve plot of channel conductance against PaO₂, a scrolling strip-chart recorder of membrane potential and calcium, and a spike raster of individual nerve impulses. Drag the PaO₂ and PaCO₂ sliders to explore the steep, synergistic threshold near 60 mmHg, or force the K⁺ channel shut with the blocker toggle to see why the channel itself — not oxygen directly — is the molecular switch.