A nerve centre in the brain which changes the rate of heartbeat and the diameter of blood vessels and so regulates blood pressure.
The description ‘vasomotor’ refers to control of the muscular walls of blood vessels, particularly arteries, dilating or constricting their diameters. The vasomotor centre is a group of neurons in the medulla oblongata of the brain; they receive messages from sensory receptors in the circulatory system, and engineer reflex alterations in the heart rate and blood-vessel diameters in order to adjust the blood pressure. The centre also receives transmission from other parts of the brain, enabling emotions fear or anger to influence blood pressure. The vasomotor centre operates through the vasomotor nerves of the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system.