Control of Blood Pressure Flashcards
Learning outcomes
- To identify the components of the feed-back system involved in the reflex control of mean arterial blood pressure (including the receptors, integrating centre, target effectors and associated afferent and efferent pathways), where they are located and how they contribute to regulation of MABP.
- To predict how the cardiovascular system will reflexively respond to physiological changes to maintain mean arterial blood pressure.
- To explain how tissue demands for blood flow are balanced against the requirement to maintain a mean arterial blood pressure.
Name 2 reasons why integration and control of the heart and blood vessels is necessary
- Integration and control of the heart and blood vessels is necessary to maintain tissue perfusion across the entire body:
1) Needed to keep a relatively constant arterial blood pressure (MABP)
2) Needed to control distribution of total cardiac output
why do we need to control distribution of total cardiac output?
- 5L/minute is not enough to perfuse the whole body
- Needs to respond to tissue demands
- Satisfied by local control mechanisms e.g baroreceptors and chemoreceptors (sensory cells associated with reflexes)
what can happen if we have too low or too high MABP?
- Too low, blood flow to organs would fail
- Too high, damage to vessels and organs would take place
How rapid is sympathetic controller of arterial pressure?
- Nervous control of arterial pressure is rapid
- Can increase arterial pressure to 2x normal within 5-10 seconds
- Can decrease arterial pressure to 50% normal within 10-40s
What are the 6 fundamental components of a reflex control system?
- 6 fundamental components of a reflex control system:
1) Internal variable to be maintained
2) Receptors sensitive to change in the variable
3) Afferent pathways from the receptors
4) An integrating centre for the afferent inputs
5) Efferent pathways from the integrating
6) Target effectors that alter their activities
What is mean arterial blood pressure (MABP)?
- Mean arterial blood pressure (MABP) is an average blood pressure in an individual during a single cardiac cycle
- MABP between 70-100mmHg is considered normal
What is the formula for MABP?
- MABP = Cardiac output x Total Peripheral resistance
What are baroreceptors?
What do they allow? How do they achieve this?
- Baroreceptors are a type of stretch mechanoreceptors that allow for the relay of information about blood pressure within the autonomic nervous system.
- Information from baroreceptors is passed in rapid sequence to alter the total peripheral resistance and cardiac output, maintaining blood pressure within a preset, normalized range.
what type of feedback loop does baroreceptors use to control MABP?
what is this process Called?
- Baroreceptors uses a negative feedback loop to control MABP
- This process is known as the baroreceptor reflex, and is a neuronal reflex
Where are the main baroreceptor locations in the arteries?
What afferent fibres are they innervated by?
- Main arterial baroreceptor locations:
1) Walls of aorta
* Subject to high ranges of pressures
* Afferent fibres follow the vagus nerve (10th cranial nerve)
2) Carotid artery
* Subject to lower pressures
* Afferent fibres follow glossopharyngeal nerve (9th cranial nerve)
*
What type of receptors are baroreceptors?
How does blood pressure affect the firing rate of baroreceptors?
How does this lead to blood pressure normalising?
Baroreceptors are stretch receptor, which sense the stretch in vessel walls
* When blood pressure increase causes vessel wall stretch increase, the firing rate of baroreceptors increase, the ANS can then decrease blood pressure through increasing parasympathetic activity and/or decreasing sympathetic activity
* When blood pressure decrease causes vessel wall stretch decrease, the firing rate of baroreceptors decrease, the ANS can then increase blood pressure through increasing sympathetic activity and/or decreasing parasympathetic activity
* These changes in ANS firing will alter cardiac output/total peripheral resistance, leading to an increase or decrease in MABP
What is the setpoint of baroreceptors?
When can it change?
What is the primary purpose of the baroreceptor reflex?
- The set point of baroreceptors is the normal resting value of blood pressure that baroreceptors are sensitive around, and is the midpoint of firing rate
- The set point is different for different systems, and can be changed e.g during hypertension or during exercise
- The primary purpose of the baroreceptor reflex control is to reduce the minute-to-minute variations of arterial pulse
Primary purpose of Baroreceptors
- The primary purpose of the baroreceptor reflex control is to reduce the minute-to-minute variations of arterial pulse
Arterial baroreceptor flow chart
- Arterial baroreceptor flow chart