title: Hypothesis: the systemic circulation as a regulated free-market economy. A new approach for understanding the long-term control of blood pressure.
abstract: 1. The purpose of the present paper is to discuss the long-term regulation of arterial blood pressure. Current thinking on the topic favours the theory that tight regulation is achieved through the action of a central (or primary) controller, usually assumed to be in either the brain or kidneys. 2. Here, an alternative explanation is considered; namely, that the average long-term level of arterial pressure is an emergent property of a decentralized control system. The goal of the system is to deliver nutrient-rich blood to distinct vascular regions based on their energy demand. 3. Specifically, the circulation is conceptualized as a free-market economy where tissues 'compete' for a scarce resource (the energy contained in blood) supplied by the heart-lung unit; the 'price' of the resource (analogous to the reciprocal of arterial pressure) is determined primarily by the dynamic relationship between supply and demand, not by a central mechanism. 4. Based on this concept of the circulation as an energy market, economic analogies are used to suggest novel mechanisms by which the brain and kidney may affect the long-term control of blood pressure. 5. Market-based control, a process derived from quantitative theoretical analysis of the performance of economic markets, is proposed as a new, potentially useful strategy for mathematically modelling the behaviour of the circulation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824-1317, USA. finkg@msu.edu
authors.forename: Gregory D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Fink
mesh_terms: D001775:Blood Circulation / Q000502:physiology; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000191:economics / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy*; D008134:Long-Term Care; D018803:Models, Economic