Sandboarding
Good adventure, good energy release, great fun, calls for full technical knowledge of "how to do it" and appropriate protective gear.
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"Adrenaline" redirects here. For other uses, see Adrenaline (disambiguation).
Epinephrine (INN) (IPA: [ËÉpɪËnÉfrÉn]) or adrenaline (BAN) (IPA: [ÉËdrÉnÉlÉn]), sometimes spelled "epinephrin" or "adrenalin" respectively, is a hormone and a neurotransmitter. Epinephrine is a catecholamine, a sympathomimetic monoamine derived from the amino acids phenylalanine and tyrosine. The Latin roots ad-+renes and the Greek roots epi-+nephros both literally mean "on/to the kidney" (referring to the adrenal gland, which secretes epinephrine). Epinephrine is sometimes shortened to epi in medical jargon.
In May 1886, William Bates reported the discovery of a substance produced by the adrenal gland in the New York Medical Journal. Epinephrine was isolated and identified in 1895 by Napoleon Cybulski, a Polish physiologist. The discovery was repeated in 1897 by John Jacob Abel. Jokichi Takamine discovered the same hormone in 1900, without knowing about the previous discovery. It was first artificially synthesized in 1904 by Friedrich Stolz.
Actions in the body
Epinephrine plays a central role in the short-term stress reactionâthe physiological response to threatening, exciting or environmental stressor conditions such as high noise levels or bright light (see Fight-or-flight response). It is secreted by the adrenal medulla. When released into the bloodstream, epinephrine binds to multiple receptors and has numerous effects throughout the body. It increases heart rate and stroke volume, dilates the pupils, and constricts arterioles in the skin and gut while dilating arterioles in leg muscles. It elevates the blood sugar level by increasing hydrolysis of glycogen to glucose in the liver, and at the same time begins the breakdown of lipids in adipocytes. Epinephrine has a suppressive effect on the immune system.
Epinephrine is used as a drug to promote peripheral vascular resistance via alpha-stimulated vasoconstriction in cardiac arrest and other cardiac dysrhythmias resulting in diminished or absent cardiac output, such that blood is shunted to the body's core. This beneficial action comes with a significant negative consequenceâincreased cardiac irritabilityâwhich may lead to additional complications immediately following an otherwise successful resuscitation. Alternatives to this treatment include vasopressin, a powerful antidiuretic which also increases peripheral vascular resistance leading to blood shunting via vasoconstriction, but without the attendant increase to myocardial irritability.
Because of its suppressive effect on the immune system, epinephrine is used to treat anaphylaxis and sepsis. Allergy patients undergoing immunotherapy may receive an epinephrine rinse before the allergen extract is administered, thus reducing the immune response to the administered allergen. It is also used as a bronchodilator for asthma if specific beta2-adrenergic receptor agonists are unavailable or ineffective. Adverse reactions to epinephrine include palpitations, tachycardia, anxiety, headache, tremor, hypertension, and acute pulmonary edema.
A pheochromocytoma is a tumor of the adrenal gland (or, rarely, the ganglia of the sympathetic nervous system), which secretes excessive amounts of catecholamines, usually epinephrine.
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Paint Ball Fun brings an adrenalin rush for most.
Any type of fast or loud or dangerous activity usually brings a rush of this hormone -- also associated with the "fight or flight" concept -- where a person is faced with a very sudden danger and gets the extra energy for his muscles so that he can "fight" or "flee" from the danger.
What does NOT happen is apathy!