Neurogenic influences on blood pressure and vascular tone from peripheral receptors during muscular contraction.

In anesthetized dogs, contraction of the muscles of the thigh was elicited either by applying electrodes in the muscles or by stimulation of the spinal ventral roots. The carotid sinuses were isolated; the vagi and the depressor nerves cut. Rhythmic muscular contraction caused hypotension and vasodilatation; tetanic contraction caused hypertension and vasoconstriction. These responses are of reflexogenic origin: the afferent pathway is in the somatic nerves, the efferent pathway in the sympathetic nerves.