All parts of the brain › Heart rate and blood pressure

What part of the brain controls heart rate and blood pressure?

The medulla oblongata. Its cardiovascular centre speeds the heart through sympathetic nerves, slows it through the vagus nerve and, through the rostral ventrolateral medulla, sets how tightly blood vessels squeeze, which sets blood pressure. The heart starts each beat by itself; the brain only speeds it up or slows it down. The hypothalamus, insula and cingulate cortex, with relays in the pons, tune that output for exercise, effort and emotion. [1][2][3]

The cardiovascular centre is a region on the medulla oblongata, not a separate shape. The 3D model has no shape for it, so the whole medulla oblongata is lit; the region’s exact border is not drawn.

The 3D brain needs JavaScript. The list of parts still says what each one does for heart rate and blood pressure.

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All 5 parts are lit together. Drag to turn, pinch or scroll to zoom, tap a part on the brain or a name in the list to focus it; .

Heart rate and blood pressure: 5 parts lit

Medulla oblongata, pons, hypothalamus, insula and cingulate gyrus. Tap one to see where it is and what it does.

The parts and their roles

Holds the cardiovascular centre: the solitary nucleus receives blood-pressure signals from stretch sensors (baroreceptors) in the carotid sinus and aortic arch through the glossopharyngeal and vagus nerves; the nucleus ambiguus and the dorsal nucleus of the vagus slow the heart through the vagus nerve; and the rostral ventrolateral medulla, the main driver of the sympathetic system, speeds the heart and tightens blood vessels through the spinal cord. [4][1][2] Where is the medulla oblongata?
The lateral parabrachial nucleus in the upper pons, wrapped around the superior cerebellar peduncle, relays blood-pressure-related signals from the medulla up to the forebrain and takes part in regulating blood pressure; the locus coeruleus, also in the upper pons, mediates many of the body’s sympathetic effects during stress. [5][6][7] Where is the pons?
The source of most central control of the autonomic nervous system and one of the inputs to the cardiovascular centre: its dorsomedial nucleus is linked to heart rate and blood pressure, and its hypothalamospinal fibres switch on the sympathetic pathway, which is how stress and exercise reset the brainstem’s output. [8][9][1] Where is the hypothalamus?
Steers autonomic output through both the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems; it helps raise heart rate and blood pressure at the start of exercise and is involved in blood-pressure control during and after it, and the right anterior insula is linked to sensing your own heartbeat. [10] Where is the insula?
In functional MRI with a simultaneous ECG, activity in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex tracked sympathetic changes in heart rate during effortful mental and motor tasks, separately from the task itself; it appears to match the body’s arousal to the effort being made. [11] Where is the cingulate gyrus?

Named areas on the lit gyri

The cardiovascular centre, on the : One of the vital centres of the medulla oblongata; it includes the vasomotor centre in the rostral ventrolateral medulla, which is a network of interacting neurons rather than a single structure. OpenStax describes two paired cardiovascular centres: a cardioaccelerator centre (sympathetic) and a cardioinhibitory centre (parasympathetic), both slightly active at rest. [1][2][3]

How they work together

Blood pressure is held steady beat by beat by the baroreflex: when pressure rises, the baroreceptors fire faster, the solitary nucleus excites the caudal ventrolateral medulla, which damps the rostral ventrolateral medulla, so sympathetic drive falls while vagal slowing rises, and pressure drops back. The loop can act in less than one heartbeat; slower hormone systems (atrial natriuretic peptide, the renin–angiotensin system) handle changes over minutes to days. [4]
At rest the brake wins: the pacemaker alone would fire about 80 to 100 times a minute, but steady parasympathetic input through the vagus nerve slows it to a typical adult resting rate of about 70 to 75 beats a minute; the usual adult resting range is 60 to 100. [12][8][3]
Nerves are not the only route: adrenaline and noradrenaline (epinephrine and norepinephrine) carried in the blood also raise the pacemaker’s rate, and the cardiovascular centre also raises stroke volume, the blood pumped per beat, so cardiac output can rise on two counts during exercise. [1][3]
Inputs reach the medulla from many sides: chemoreceptors report blood acidity, baroreceptors report pressure, receptors in muscles and joints report movement, and the hypothalamus, thalamus, limbic system and cerebral cortex add the context of stress, emotion and effort. [1][3]
Honest limit: the cardiovascular centre, the parabrachial nucleus and the locus coeruleus are small clusters of neurons with no shape of their own on this model, so the whole medulla, pons and cingulate gyrus light; the roles of the insula and the cingulate cortex come largely from imaging studies and are still being mapped; and the heart, its nerves and the baroreceptors are outside the model. [2][11][10]

Sources

Facts describe anatomy and normal function only. A part lit here takes part in heart rate and blood pressure; it does not do it alone, and it does other jobs too. The 3D model is the adult male BodyParts3D brain (credits and licence); on it the brainstem includes the midbrain, pons and medulla, so lighting the brainstem lights all three.