What type of chemical is epinephrine

An injection of epinephrine can help to open up your airway so you can breathe. Doctors sometimes use norepinephrine to treat septic shock , a severe infection that can lead to organ failure. This infection tends to cause dangerously low blood pressure. Norepinephrine given through an IV can help to constrict blood vessels, increasing blood pressure. Although epinephrine can also be used for this purpose, norepinephrine is preferred due to its pure alpha receptor action.

Some people with ADHD or depression take medications that stimulate or increase the release of norepinephrine, including:. Epinephrine is used to treat anaphylaxis, cardiac arrest, and severe asthma attacks. Norepinephrine, on the other hand, is used to treat dangerously low blood pressure. In addition, medications that increase norepinephrine can help with ADHD and depression. Low levels of epinephrine and norepinephrine can contribute to a variety of physical and mental conditions, including:.

Chronic stress, poor nutrition, and taking certain medications, such as methylphenidate Ritalin , can make your less sensitive to epinephrine and norepinephrine. These factors can also cause your body to start producing less epinephrine and norepinephrine.

Some medical conditions cause people to have too much epinephrine, norepinephrine, or both. These include:. Ongoing stress can also cause high levels of both epinephrine and norepinephrine. Epinephrine and norepinephrine are very similar neurotransmitters and hormones.

While epinephrine has slightly more of an effect on your heart, norepinephrine has more of an effect on your blood vessels. Getting a shot of emergency epinephrine as quickly as possible can save your life — but what should you do afterward?

Many say our modern lifestyle wears out our adrenal glands, and swear adrenal extracts are the answer. Are they right or wrong? Stroke and heart attack are medical emergencies. Recognizing the symptoms can help you quickly receive the correct treatment. Experts say there are a number of ways to make it easier to go to bed at a proper time, including when you exercise and when you eat. Left bundle branch block is a condition in which there's slowing along the electrical pathway to your heart's left ventricle.

Ejection fraction is a test that's used to determine the percentage of blood that leaves your left ventricle each time your heart beats. A new study of over 2. Experts say middle-aged people with iron deficiency have a higher risk of heart disease later. You can increase iron levels with diet and supplements. Health Conditions Discover Plan Connect. Medically reviewed by Dena Westphalen, Pharm.

Hormones are chemical messengers that travel through the bloodstream. Neurotransmitters are also a type of chemical messenger, but they only occur in nerve cells and travel across synapses, which are junctions where two nerve fibers meet.

Nerves cells produce neurotransmitters in response to electrical impulses. The adrenal medulla, the inner portion of the adrenal gland, regulates and secretes both epinephrine and norepinephrine in response to stress and other imbalances in the body, such as low blood pressure.

Epinephrine activates both alpha- and beta-adrenoreceptors in cells, whereas norepinephrine mainly stimulates alpha-adrenoreceptors. When the brain perceives danger, the amygdala triggers the hypothalamus to activate the autonomic nervous system.

Signals from the autonomic nervous system stimulate the adrenal gland to start pumping epinephrine into the bloodstream. People often refer to this surge of epinephrine as an adrenaline rush or the fight or flight response.

Epinephrine affects the heart, lungs, muscles, and blood vessels. Its release into the bloodstream brings about several physiological changes, such as:. The adrenal medulla produces norepinephrine in response to low blood pressure and stress.

Norepinephrine promotes vasoconstriction, which is a narrowing of the blood vessels, and this increases blood pressure. A rare condition called genetic dopamine beta-hydroxylase deficiency prevents the body from converting dopamine into norepinephrine. According to a article , genetic dopamine beta-hydroxylase deficiency results from a mutation in the norepinephrine transporter gene gc.

The authors concluded that this condition might decrease sympathetic nerve activity and increase the risk of damage to the heart and blood vessels. Low levels of epinephrine and norepinephrine can result in physical and mental symptoms, such as:. In addition, norepinephrine plays a role in focus and promotes periods of sustained attention. Low levels of norepinephrine may contribute to the development of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ADHD.

Certain medical conditions, such as tumors, chronic stress, and obesity , can affect the adrenal glands and cause excess production of epinephrine and norepinephrine. Symptoms of high levels of epinephrine or norepinephrine can include :. An epinephrine overdose can occur in people who use epinephrine injections to treat certain medical conditions. An overdose of injected epinephrine can lead to dangerously high blood pressure, stroke , or even death.

Synthetic forms of epinephrine and norepinephrine have several medical uses, which we discuss below:. Doctors prescribe epinephrine to treat severe medical conditions that affect the heart and airways, such as anaphylaxis. Epinephrine counters anaphylactic shock by narrowing the blood vessels, relaxing the muscles, and opening up the airways.

It is common for people at risk of anaphylaxis to carry an epinephrine autoinjector with them at all times. Doctors also use epinephrine to treat severe asthma attacks, cardiac arrest, and serious infections. Norepinephrine can help raise systolic blood pressure in people who have had a heart attack.

Doctors also use norepinephrine to treat :. Epinephrine and norepinephrine are similar chemicals that act as both neurotransmitters and hormones in the body. Epinephrine acts on the alpha- and beta-adrenoreceptors in the muscles, lungs, heart, and blood vessels. Norepinephrine is a metabolite of dopamine that primarily acts on the alpha-adrenoreceptors in the blood vessels.

In this article, learn more about sepsis and septic shock, including prevention tips, causes, risk factors, and treatment.