Baroreceptors, baroreceptor unloading, and the long-term control of blood pressure

Whether arterial baroreceptors play a role in setting the long-term level of mean arterial pressure (MAP) has been debated for more than 75 years. Because baroreceptor input is reciprocally related to efferent sympathetic nerve activity (SNA), it is obvious that baroreceptor unloading would cause an increase in MAP. Experimental proof of concept is evident acutely after baroreceptor denervation. Chronically, however, baroreceptor denervation is associated with highly variable changes in MAP but not sustained hypertension. The ability of baroreceptors to buffer imposed increases in MAP appears limited by a process termed resetting, in which the threshold to fire shifts in the direction of the pressure change and if the pressure elevation is maintained, it leads to a rightward shift in the relationship between baroreceptor firing and MAP. The most common hypothesis linking baroreceptors to changes in MAP proposes that reduced vascular distensibility in baroreceptive areas would cause reduced firing at the same pulsatile pressure and, thus, reflexively increase SNA. This review focuses on effects of baroreceptor denervation in the regulation of MAP in human subjects compared with animal studies; the relationship between vascular compliance, MAP, and baroreceptor resetting; and, finally, the effect of chronic baroreceptor unloading on the regulation of MAP.