INTRODUCTION
“ 'These changes in the body,' Walter Bradford Cannon wrote in the review paper he sent to the American Journal of Physiology late in 1913, 'are, each one of them, directly serviceable in making the organism more efficient in the struggle which fear or rage or pain may involve; for fear and rage are organic preparations for action, and pain is the most powerful known stimulus to supreme exertion. The organism which with the aid of increased adrenal secretion can best muster its energies, can best call forth sugar to supply the labouring muscles, can best lessen fatigue, and can best send blood to the parts essential in the run or the fight for life, is most likely to survive. Such, according to the view here propounded, is the function of the adrenal medulla at times of great emergency.' ”
Epinephrine, more commonly known as Adrenaline, is a naturally occurring hormone. It is a hormone secreted by the medulla of the adrenal glands. Strong emotions such as fear or anger cause epinephrine to be released into the bloodstream, which causes an increase in heart rate, muscle strength, blood pressure, and sugar metabolism. This reaction, known as the “Flight or Fight Response” prepares the body for strenuous activity.
Epinephrine was the first hormone to be discovered. Hormones are substances produced by body cells that circulate in body fluid and influence the activity of cells in another part of the body. In the 1950s, the American pharmacologist Earl Sutherland (1915-1974) discovered that epinephrine does not act directly on cells, but stimulates production of cyclic AMP, a second messenger that regulates cell activity.
The term “Epinephrine” was chosen as the generic name in the United States because John Abel, who prepared extracts from the adrenal glands in 1897, used that name for his extracts. In 1901, Jokichi Takamine patented a purified adrenal extract, and called it "Adrenaline", which was trademarked by Parke, Davis & Co