The cardiovascular effects of the carotid sinus mechanism

The feedback mechanism by means of which the carotid sinus affects arterial blood pressure is represented with the use of the single chamber model of the cardiovascular system. The average pressure in the large arteries is the controlled variable. The resultant firstorder differential equation is easily solved. The theoretical results indicate that the feed-back mechanism of the carotid sinus serves to decrease the deviation of the average arterial pressure from an internal standard of pressure in the steady state and to hasten the stabilization of the pressure following environmental or pharmacological changes. This approach also suggests an experimentally feasible method for the determination of the internal standard of pressure.