A bionic approach to cardiovascular regulation: bionic arterial baroreflex system

A bionic system is an artificial device, integrated into natural human physiology by communicating with the native regulatory system. This can functionally operate as if it were a part of the body. Bionic systems can be realized only with the knowledge of detailed characteristics of the native system. We made use of a "white-noise approach" and have succeeded in functionally identifying the native arterial baroreflex. Using thus identified characteristics, we developed a bionic baroreflex system. Animal experiments in rats revealed that the bionic baroreflex system can stabilize pressure against hypotensive stimuli such as head-up tilt even without the native baroreflex system.