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Vagal tone. Vagal tone is activity of the vagus nerve (the 10th cranial nerve) and a fundamental component of the parasympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system. This branch of the nervous system is not under conscious control and is largely responsible for the regulation of several body compartments at rest.
The parasympathetic system is responsible for stimulation of "rest-and-digest" or "feed-and-breed" [4] activities that occur when the body is at rest, especially after eating, including sexual arousal, salivation, lacrimation (tears), urination, digestion, and defecation. Its action is described as being complementary to that of the sympathetic ...
The baroreflex or baroreceptor reflex is one of the body's homeostatic mechanisms that helps to maintain blood pressure at nearly constant levels. The baroreflex provides a rapid negative feedback loop in which an elevated blood pressure causes the heart rate to decrease. Decreased blood pressure decreases baroreflex activation and causes heart ...
Parasympatholytic. A parasympatholytic agent is a substance or activity that reduces the activity of the parasympathetic nervous system. [1][2] The term parasympatholytic typically refers to the effect of a drug, although some poisons act to block the parasympathetic nervous system as well. Most drugs with parasympatholytic properties are ...
Myocardial contractility. Myocardial contractility represents the innate ability of the heart muscle (cardiac muscle or myocardium) to contract. It is the maximum attainable value for the force of contraction of a given heart. The ability to produce changes in force during contraction result from incremental degrees of binding between different ...
Vasodilation, also known as vasorelaxation, is the widening of blood vessels. [1] It results from relaxation of smooth muscle cells within the vessel walls, in particular in the large veins, large arteries, and smaller arterioles. [2] Blood vessel walls are composed of endothelial tissue and a basal membrane lining the lumen of the vessel ...
Neurology. Neurogenic shock is a distributive type of shock resulting in hypotension (low blood pressure), often with bradycardia (slowed heart rate), caused by disruption of autonomic nervous system pathways. [1] It can occur after damage to the central nervous system, such as spinal cord injury and traumatic brain injury.
Stress (biology) Schematic overview of the classes of stresses in plants. Neurohormonal response to stress. Stress, whether physiological, biological or psychological, is an organism's response to a stressor such as an environmental condition. [1] When stressed by stimuli that alter an organism's environment, multiple systems respond across the ...