Figure 4
A Frank-Starling-Baroreceptor model of the cardiovascular system. The Frank-Starling model of the circulation from Fig. 2 combined with baroreceptor control of arterial blood pressure (Pa) via changes in heart rate (HR). MAPset is the set point of the control system, and HRgain is the gain of the control system that operates on the difference between the actual and set arterial blood pressures (MAPdelta; Eqn. 7). The right side cardiac output term is expanded to include the role of myocardial contractility (CNT), stroke volume (SV) and heart rate (HR). "kc" is a conversion factor to adjust for the index used to measure myocardial contractility (Eqn. 8). Strictly, myocardial contractility is the proportionality factor between Pv and stroke volume (SV = COR/HR). However, it is often quantified using indirect indices, such as maximum positive change of ventricular pressure (dP/dtmax). The value of kc will depend of what index of contractility is used (see Eqn. 8).