Norepinephrine

norepinephrine, also called noradrenaline, substance that is released predominantly from the ends of sympathetic nerve fibres and that acts to increase the force of skeletal muscle contraction and the rate and force of contraction of the heart. The actions of norepinephrine are vital to the fight-or-flight response, whereby the body prepares to react to or retreat from an acute threat.

Norepinephrine is classified structurally as a catecholamine—it contains a catechol group (a benzene ring with two hydroxyl groups) bound to an amine (nitrogen-containing) group. The addition of a methyl group to the amine group of norepinephrine results in the formation of epinephrine, the other major mediator of the flight-or-flight response. Relative to epinephrine, which is produced and stored primarily in the adrenal glands, norepinephrine is stored in small amounts in adrenal tissue. Its major site of storage and release are the neurons of the sympathetic nervous system (a branch of the autonomic nervous system). Thus, norepinephrine functions mainly as a neurotransmitter with some function as a hormone (being released into the bloodstream from the adrenal glands).

Norepinephrine, similar to other catecholamines, is generated from the amino acid tyrosine. Norepinephrine exerts its effects by binding to α- and β-adrenergic receptors (or adrenoceptors, so named for their reaction to the adrenal hormones) in different tissues. In the blood vessels, it triggers vasoconstriction (narrowing of blood vessels), which increases blood pressure. Blood pressure is further raised by norepinephrine as a result of its effects on the heart muscle, which increase the output of blood from the heart. Norepinephrine also acts to increase blood glucose levels and levels of circulating free fatty acids. The substance has also been shown to modulate the function of certain types of immune cells (e.g., T cells). Norepinephrine activity is efficiently terminated through inactivation by the enzymes catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) or monoamine oxidase (MAO), by reuptake into nerve endings, or by diffusion from binding sites. Norepinephrine that diffuses away from local nerve endings can act on adrenergic receptors at distant sites.

Norepinephrine is used clinically as a means of maintaining blood pressure in certain types of shock (e.g., septic shock). Swedish physiologist Ulf von Euler identified norepinephrine in the mid-1940s; he received a share of the 1970 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his discovery.