Baroreceptor Reflex ▶Baroreflex Models Baroreflex Models

Blood pressure is controlled by several feedback mechanisms. The fastest one baroreceptor reflex (baroreflex) can be defined as the biological neural control system responsible for the short-term blood pressure regulation. From modeling perspective the baroreflex feedback control system consists of three parts (Fig. 1): • The afferent part where the arterial pressure is being read out, transduced, and supplied • The central nervous system (CNS) where this input is processed and converted to the sympathetic and parasympathetic nerve activities • The effector organs that respond to sympathetic and parasympathetic tones by adjusting heart rate, contractility, vascular resistance, and a number of other physiological parameters The afferent part is represented by baroreceptors, mechanoreceptors located in the great arteries, heart, and pulmonary vasculature, that transduce arterial pressure into action potential trains. Baroreceptors provide input to secondorder neurons in nucleus tractus solitarius (NTS) located in the lower brainstem. Via a network of interneurons, the second-order barosensitive neurons provide an excitatory input to cardiac vagal motoneurons (CVM) in nucleus ambiguus (NA) and dorsal motor nucleus of vagus (DMNX) and inhibit the pre-sympathetic neurons in rostral ventrolateral medulla (RVLM). CVMs and pre-sympathetic RVLM neurons define