2018 Annual Meeting of the Society for Mathematical Biology & the Japanese Society for Mathematical Biology

8-12 July 2018
Australia/Sydney timezone

Control of the cardiorespiratory system: challenges and opportunities

9 Jul 2018, 18:00
2h
Holme Building/--The Refectory (University of Sydney)

Holme Building/--The Refectory

University of Sydney

20
Board: 606
Poster Presentation Physiology

Speaker

Dr Alona Ben-Tal (Massey University)

Description

Maintaining physiological levels of oxygen (O$_2$) and carbon dioxide (CO$_2$) in the blood is crucial for survival and is achieved by sophisticated neural control mechanisms affecting both the breathing pattern and heart rate. Neural activity, originated in the brainstem, drives the respiratory muscles, providing air flow into and out of the lungs where gas exchange takes place and also affects heart rate and blood flow. Chemoreceptors that sense the levels of O$_2$ and CO$_2$ in the blood, mechanical stretch receptors within the lungs and blood pressure sensors provide feedback signals to the brainstem networks which then regulate the breathing pattern and heart rate appropriately. Understanding how the neural system responds to all the feedback signals it receives is still lacking. I will outline the challenges we face from a modelling perspective and the different approaches we take in our attempt to resolve them.

Primary author

Dr Alona Ben-Tal (Massey University)

Presentation Materials

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