Adrenergic means "working on

adrenaline Adrenaline, also known as epinephrine, is a hormone and medication which is involved in regulating visceral functions (e.g., respiration). It appears as a white microcrystalline granule. Adrenaline is normally produced by the adrenal glands an ...

(epinephrine) or

noradrenaline Norepinephrine (NE), also called noradrenaline (NA) or noradrenalin, is an organic chemical in the catecholamine family that functions in the brain and body as both a hormone and neurotransmitter. The name "noradrenaline" (from Latin '' ad'', ...

(norepinephrine)" (or on their

receptors Receptor may refer to: *Sensory receptor, in physiology, any structure which, on receiving environmental stimuli, produces an informative nerve impulse *Receptor (biochemistry), in biochemistry, a protein molecule that receives and responds to a n ...

). When not further qualified, it is usually used in the sense of enhancing or mimicking the effects of epinephrine and norepinephrine in the body. *

Adrenergic nervous system The sympathetic nervous system (SNS) is one of the three divisions of the autonomic nervous system, the others being the parasympathetic nervous system and the enteric nervous system. The enteric nervous system is sometimes considered part of the ...

, a part of the autonomic nervous system that uses epinephrine or norepinephrine as its neurotransmitter Regarding

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, res ...

s: * Adrenergic receptor, a receptor type for epinephrine and norepinephrine; subtypes include α₁, α₂, β₁, β₂, and β₃ receptors * Adrenergic transporter (norepinephrine transporter), a protein transporting norepinephrine from the synaptic cleft into nerve cells Regarding

pharmaceutical drug A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy (pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field an ...

s: *

Adrenergic receptor agonist An adrenergic agonist is a drug that stimulates a response from the adrenergic receptors. The five main categories of adrenergic receptors are: α1, α2, β1, β2, and β3, although there are more subtypes, and agonists vary in specificity between t ...

, a type of drug activating one or more subtypes of adrenergic receptors ** This includes drugs regulating blood pressure and antiasthmatic drugs. *

Adrenergic receptor antagonist An adrenergic antagonist is a drug that inhibits the function of adrenergic receptors. There are five adrenergic receptors, which are divided into two groups. The first group of receptors are the beta (β) adrenergic receptors. There are β1, β ...

, a type of drug blocking one or more subtypes of adrenergic receptors ** This mainly includes drugs lowering blood pressure. *

Adrenergic reuptake inhibitor A norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (NRI, NERI) or noradrenaline reuptake inhibitor or adrenergic reuptake inhibitor (ARI), is a type of drug that acts as a reuptake inhibitor for the neurotransmitters norepinephrine (noradrenaline) and epineph ...

, a type of drug blocking the norepinephrine transporter ** This includes antidepressants and drugs against ADHD.

References

{{sia Neurotransmitters

See also

References