Ra. Vadigepalli et al., Analysis and neuronal modeling of the nonlinear characteristics of a localcardiac reflex in the rat, NEURAL COMP, 13(10), 2001, pp. 2239-2271
Citations number
59
Categorie Soggetti
Neurosciences & Behavoir","AI Robotics and Automatic Control
Previous experimental results have suggested the existence of a local cardi
ac reflex in the rat. In this study, the putative role of such a local refl
ex in cardiovascular regulation is quantitatively analyzed. A model for the
local reflex is developed from anatomical experimental results and physiol
ogical data in the literature. Using this model, a systems-level analysis i
s conducted. Simulation results indicate that the neuromodulatory mechanism
of the local reflex attenuates the nonlinearity of the relationship betwee
n cardiac vagal drive and arterial pressure. This behavior is characterized
through coherence analysis. Furthermore, the modulation of phase-related c
haracteristics of the cardiovascular system is suggested as a plausible mec
hanism for the nonlinear attenuation. Based on these results, it is plausib
le that the functional role of the local reflex is highly robust nonlinear
compensation at the heart, which results in less complex dynamics in other
parts of the reflex.