Figure 4. A schematic illustration of the strain sensed by the mechanoreceptors.

The spring and Voigt bodies (a parallel spring and dashpot) in series shown here describes the strain sensed by the mechanoreceptors relative to the deformation of the arterial wall. The spring represents the elasticity of the BR nerve endings, whereas the Voigt bodies reflect the viscoelastic properties of the surrounding connective tissue. Each element provides a timescale adaptation of BRs firing rate in response to a step increase in pressure observed in experiments. This study compares the cases .