Harvey Cushing and the regulation of blood pressure in giraffe, rat, and man: introducing ‘Cushing’s mechanism’

The fundamental mechanism that underlies essential hypertension is a high total peripheral resistance. We review here possible origins of high total peripheral resistance in physiologically hypertensive giraffes, spontaneously hypertensive rats and humans with essential hypertension. We propose that a common link could be reduced brainstem perfusion, as first suggested by Cushing in 1901. Any tendency […]