The role of the carotid body chemoreceptors and carotid sinus baroreceptors in the control of cerebral blood vessels.

1. Cerebral blood flow was measured in 17 baboons, anaesthetized with pentobarbitone, paralysed with gallamine and mechanically ventilated and in which the right sinus and both aortic nerves had been cut and the left carotid sinus vascularly isolated. Later in each experiment, the head was artificially perfused with femoral arterial blood via the innominate artery.2. Stimulation of the carotid body chemoreceptors with venous blood invariably caused a rise in regional cerebral blood flow whether the head was naturally or artificially perfused. This response was almost completely abolished if the VIIth cranial nerves were cut intracranially.3. Regional cerebral blood flow varied inversely with carotid sinus pressure.4. After the remaining (left) sinus nerve had been cut, the cerebral vascular response to hypoxia was negligible and the response to hypercapnia was markedly reduced. Blood flow then varied with perfusion pressure.5. These results provide further evidence that cerebral blood vessels are reflexly controlled and that the peripheral arterial receptors are involved. Their action is most conspicuous in the vascular response to hypoxia and together with intrinsic factors in the cerebral vascular bed, they determine the size of the vascular response to changes in CO(2) and pressure.