carotid sinus n a small but richly innervated arterial enlargement that is located near the point in the neck where the common carotid artery divides into the internal and the external carotid arteries and that functions in the regulation of heart rate and blood pressure
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a pocket in the wall of the carotid artery, at its division in the neck, containing receptors that monitor blood pressure (see baroreceptor). When blood pressure is raised, impulses travel from the receptors to the vasomotor centre in the brain, which initiates a reflex vasodilatation and slowing of heart rate to lower the blood pressure to normal.
Medical dictionary. 2011.