Baroreceptor

Baroreceptors (or archaically, pressoreceptors) are sensors located in the blood vessels of all vertebrate animals. They sense the blood pressure and relay the information to the brain, so that a proper blood pressure can be maintained.

Baroreceptors are a type of mechanoreceptor sensory neuron that is excited by stretch of the blood vessel. Thus, increases in the pressure of blood vessel triggers increased action potential generation rates and provides information to the central nervous system. This sensory information is used primarily in autonomic reflexes that in turn influence the heart cardiac output and vascular smooth muscle to influence total peripheral resistance. Baroreceptors act immediately as part of a negative feedback system called the baroreflex, as soon as there is a change from the usual mean arterial blood pressure, returning the pressure toward a normal level. These reflexes help regulate short-term blood pressure. The nucleus tractus solitarii in the medulla oblongata of the brain recognizes changes in the firing rate of action potentials from the baroreceptors, and influences cardiac output and systemic vascular resistance.