text: Through studies using mammalian model organisms, there are two main hypotheses for the location of oxygen sensing in chemoreceptor cells: the membrane hypothesis and the mitochondrial hypothesis.  The membrane hypothesis was proposed for the carotid body in mice, and it predicts that oxygen sensing is an ion balance initiated process.  The mitochondrial hypothesis was also proposed for the carotid body of mice, but it relies on the levels of oxidative phosphorylation and/or reactive oxygen species (ROS) production as a cue for hypoxia.  Specifically, the oxygen sensitive K  currents are inhibited by HO and NADPH oxidase activation.  There is evidence for both of these hypotheses depending on the species used for the study.  For the neuroepithelial cells in the zebrafish gills, there is strong evidence supporting the "membrane hypothesis" due to their capacity to respond to hypoxia after removal of the contents of the cell.  However, there is no evidence against multiple sites for oxygen sensing in organisms.