Three-Dimensional Simulations of Blood Flow With Systemic Arterial Baroreflex

The systemic arterial baroreflex controls the systemic arterial pressure to maintain homeostasis. The carotid sinus and aortic arch are the major systemic arterial baroreceptors, and they respond to distention of the carotid and aortic walls causing compensatory mechanisms, which regulate heart rate, cardiac contractility, peripheral arterial resistance, venous compliance, and venous unstressed volume [1]. In this study, we connect a feedback control loop, which represents the systemic arterial baroreflex, to the closed loop system we developed in a previous study [2]. The three-dimensional finite element model of the aorta and the closed loop system enable us to obtain not only the physiologic flow rate and pressure fields of the finite element model but also the global characteristics of the cardiovascular system from the closed loop model. We study the autoregulatory mechanisms occurring due to the systemic arterial baroreflex by considering the interactions between the heart and the systemic and pulmonary circulations.