In the simulation the baroceptor reflex is sensitive to the change of arterial blood pressure at upstroke (dP/dt: pressure change per time unit). It has two outputs: it changes heart rate and it changes peripheral resistance. These can be selected independently Any increase in dP/dt is translated to a decrease in heart rate and a decrease in peripheral resistance, whereas a decrease in dP/dt results in the opposite.
After turning on de Bainbridge response we reached changes in heart rate (blue) in response to changes in pCO2 (orange) that resulted in some damping of the blood pressure (red). This is shown in the right portion of the upper graph.
Subsequently, turning on the baroceptor reflex will cause the heart rate to somewhat decrease. (The heart rate is thought to be under tonic vagal control to be released when a dose of atropine is administered.) In response to changes in pCO2, the increase in heart rate due to the Bainbridge response will be dampened because of the rise in blood pressure causing inhibitory effects from the baroceptor reflex.
With the addition of the baroceptor reflex the cardio vascular simulation has reached a high level of complexity, with different responses and reflexes superimposed resulting in complex (and very arbitrary) interactions. That is an important reservation to the validity of the model:
it is successful in copying complexity but less in simulating reality.