Stimulation of Carotid Baroreceptors in Humans: A Technique for the Evaluation of Reflex Control of Blood Pressure

摘要

Hypertension is a disease that can cause serious health issues such as acute myocardial infarction and stroke (cerebral vascular accident) and constitutes a matter of public health. Blood pressure is controlled by the cardiovascular system through various mechanisms, and the baroreceptors play a key role in this regulation. It is possible to verify the responses relevant to the control of blood pressure by stimulating these pressure sensors. It is important to understand how the baroreceptors work given the difficulty in diagnosing problems in accordance to these mechanisms. To the best of the authors's knowledge, there has been no prior study in Brazil that has statistically evaluated within the population the prevalence of problems attributed to the baroreflex system. Normalized data for different population groups are also absent. Therefore, given the difficulty in identifying the exact origin of the elevation of blood pressure and the lack of information on baroreflex within the population, we developed an equipment that is capable to determine these factors. Baroreceptors can be stimulated by applying external negative pressure through a collar positioned around the neck, in synchrony with an electrocardiogram. A decrease in the heart rate and a reduction in blood pressure are expected during the stimulation.