Objective The purpose of the study is to evaluate whether CBF is affected by 20% and 40% reductions in MAP by sodium nitroprusside. The CO2 reactivity of the internal carotid and vertebral arteries is evaluated in order to control for hyperventilation during sodium nitroprusside induced hypotension. Further, the study will evaluate whether changes in internal carotid and vertebral artery blood flow by a 40% reduction in MAP are different and whether the arteries have different CO2 reactivity. Lastly, the study will evaluate whether the slope of the linear regression of CBF and MAP is higher for the evaluations when MAP is reduced by 40% and 20% than that of the evaluations at baseline and when MAP is reduced by 20%.