Low-order chaos in sympathetic nerve activity and scaling of heartbeat intervals

The mechanism of $1/f$ scaling of heartbeat intervals remains unknown. We recorded heartbeat intervals, sympathetic nerve activity, and blood pressure in conscious rats with normal or high blood pressure. Using nonlinear analyses, we demonstrate that the dynamics of this system of three variables is low-order chaos, and that sympathetic nerve activity leads to heartbeat interval and blood pressure changes. It is suggested that impaired regulation of blood pressure by sympathetic nerve activity is likely to cause experimentally observable steeper scaling of heartbeat intervals in hypertensive (high blood pressure) rats.