Central effects of baroreceptor activation in humans: attenuation of skeletal reflexes and pain perception.

Activating the arterial baroreceptors blunts pain sensation and produces other forms of central nervous system inhibition in animals. These effects may be important to blood pressure regulation but have not been rigorously verified in humans. We describe (i) a noninvasive behaviorally unbiased method for baroreceptor stimulation and (ii) the application of this method to measurement of baroreceptor-mediated attenuation of pain perception and of the Achilles tendon reflex. The findings are relevant to basic mechanisms of blood pressure stabilization and cardiovascular reactivity and may also have implications for noncompliance with antihypertensive medications and for the pathophysiology of essential hypertension. IMAGES:

激活动脉压力感受器（arterial baroreceptors）可在动物体内减弱痛觉感知，并引发中枢神经系统的其他类型抑制效应。此类效应或对血压调控发挥重要作用，但尚未在人类中得到严格验证。
本研究报告了两项内容：（i）一种用于压力感受器刺激的无创行为学无偏倚方法；（ii）运用该方法测量压力感受器介导的痛觉感知减弱效应与跟腱反射（Achilles tendon reflex）的具体方案。
本研究结果与血压稳态及心血管反应性的基础机制密切相关，同时或可为降压药物依从性不佳以及原发性高血压（essential hypertension）的病理生理学研究提供参考。
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