Estimation of open-loop gain of canine arterial pressure control system by a new method

We developed a method to estimate an overall open-loop gain of the arterial pressure control system without surgically opening the reflex loop. Dogs anesthetized by intravenous injection of Nembutal (35 mg/kg body wt) were bled by 2 ml/kg body wt within 2-3 s through a catheter inserted into the abdominal aorta. Arterial pressure change after the quick hemorrhage was monitored via a catheter placed in the aortic arch for more than 2 min. The overall open-loop gain of the lumped arterial pressure control system was assessed as (delta API/delta APs)-1, where delta API is the immediate fall and delta APs the steady-state fall in mean arterial pressure obtained by a filter with a 2-s time constant. The advantage of this method is that the overall open-loop gain can be estimated under the closed-loop condition in which the baroreceptor reflexes operate naturally around the existing range of systemic arterial pressure. This enables one to study time-varying characteristics of the reflex gain. The disadvantage is that the substantial constituents of the lumped reflex system remain to be confirmed.