What are the two major effects when blood pressure rises?

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Multiple Choice

What are the two major effects when blood pressure rises?

When blood pressure rises, the body uses the baroreceptor reflex to bring it back down. Baroreceptors in the carotid sinuses and aortic arch sense the stretch from the higher pressure and increase their firing. The brainstem then reduces sympathetic outflow and enhances parasympathetic (vagal) activity to the heart. This leads to a slower heart rate and weaker cardiac contraction, lowering cardiac output. At the same time, reduced sympathetic tone relaxes vascular smooth muscle, causing widespread peripheral vasodilation. The combination—less blood being pumped and the vessels being more dilated—lowers arterial pressure, helping return BP toward normal. Other options describe outcomes that don’t fit the reflex. A rise in BP does not typically cause only a decrease in heart rate without vascular changes, nor does it produce no change in vascular tone, and it certainly isn’t accompanied by increased cardiac output and vasoconstriction.

When blood pressure rises, the body uses the baroreceptor reflex to bring it back down. Baroreceptors in the carotid sinuses and aortic arch sense the stretch from the higher pressure and increase their firing. The brainstem then reduces sympathetic outflow and enhances parasympathetic (vagal) activity to the heart. This leads to a slower heart rate and weaker cardiac contraction, lowering cardiac output. At the same time, reduced sympathetic tone relaxes vascular smooth muscle, causing widespread peripheral vasodilation. The combination—less blood being pumped and the vessels being more dilated—lowers arterial pressure, helping return BP toward normal.

Other options describe outcomes that don’t fit the reflex. A rise in BP does not typically cause only a decrease in heart rate without vascular changes, nor does it produce no change in vascular tone, and it certainly isn’t accompanied by increased cardiac output and vasoconstriction.

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