A hormone secreted by the cortex of the adrenal glands. Prepares the body for ‘fight or flight’. Surface blood vessels constrict, heart rate and blood pressure rises, breathing is stimulated, muscle activity increases, sweat is released, pupils contract, the mouth becomes dry and blood clots faster. One of its properties is to mobilise fatty acids from adipose tissue, thus being of value in obesity.
Called epinephrine in the U.S., this is a substance secreted into the bloodstream and reacted to by specialized receptors throughout the body, initiating a “code blue” or flight-or-fight response. Many receptors are a regular part of sympathetic function, and respond to their own local relative, norepinephrine or noradrenalin, in the course of normal autonomic nervous system interplay. See: SYMPATHETIC, PARASYMPATHETIC, LIMBIC