A novel approach to the design of an artificial bionic baroreflex

This paper presents a computationally efficient method to design an artificial bionic baroreflex. This work is built upon a physiology-based mathematical model of autonomic-cardiac regulation describing the regulation of heart rate and blood pressure as well as a system identification technique to identify a subject-specific mathematical model for each subject. The control strategy to regulate blood pressure is developed based upon the in-vivo baroreflex mechanism. A unique strength of the proposed method is its capability to determine the modulating baroreflex functions on the sympathetic and parasympathetic nerve activities. This method can be used in the treatment of individuals with baroreflex failure through overriding the corresponding nerves to properly regulate blood pressure. In fact, nerve overriding causes heart rate and arterial stiffness to adjust such that blood pressure reaches a proper range to provide enough oxygenated-blood to the critical organs.