Answer the following essay questions:
a) How is blood supply to the brain provided? Which special network offers an additional
guarantee for continuous blood supply to all brain parts?
b) How does the heart’s ability to contract differ from that of other muscles of the body?
c) Which system is responsible for decreasing heart rate after a crisis has passed?
d) What causes the development of varicose veins in the lower limbs?
e) What is the function of the hepatic portal circulation? In what way is a portal circulation a
“strange” circulation?
f) Which part of the nervous system plays an important role in regulating blood pressure? By
which action does it increase blood pressure?
The sympathetic nervous system hugely contributes to blood pressure maintenance and its activity is
controlled by the brainstem's medulla oblongata. The medulla is involved in the regulation of a number
of important processes; some of these are the control of the heartbeat, the rate of breathing, and blood
pressure control (Cleveland Clinic, 2022). If there’s a need for an increase in blood pressure, this
stimulus comes from the medulla by way of the sympathetic nervous system. This stimulation has two
broad effects.
First, sympathetic activation leads to an increase in the rate and the strength of contractions of the
heart, together increasing the cardiac output which is the amount of blood the heart excretes in a
minute. Such an increase in the volume of blood excreted by the heart translates to an increase in blood
pressure.
Second, sympathetic nervous system vasoconstricts blood vessels. Vasoconstriction is the narrowing of
the diameter of blood vessels. This narrowing increases peripheral resistance, which is also known as
the workload that the heart has to bear in forcing blood through the blood vessels until it returns to the
heart. The combination of increased cardiac output and increased peripheral resistance leads to an
increase in blood pressure.
Such mechanisms are significant not only in ensuring blood pressure to remain within normal levels
but also in the face of changing physiological demands. Excessive activation or suppression of the
sympathetic nervous system can lead to the development of some cardiovascular diseases, for example,
hypertension (Campos et al., 2001; DeLalio et al., 2020).