Autoregulation of Cerebral Blood
Channel: James Smirniotopoulos
Date: 2014-01-07

The brain maintains relatively constant cerebral perfusion over a wide range of blood pressure, through a mechanism of local control called "autoregulation".  The mechanism is through a sphincter-like vasoconstriction or dilatation of the pre-capillary arteriole feeding the capillary bed.  This mechanism increases perfusion (rCBF) in response to falling pH and/or rising pCO2.