Adrenaline is a hormone, so adrenaline gets released into the bloodstream and then is swept to a whole variety of organs. A neurotransmitter is released from a nerve terminal and it acts directly on a target cell in that organ. One, which you talked about a lot, is neurotransmitters. In general, the brain has three ways to control what is going on inside. Here is how these three catecholamines work in the body, they work differently.
And then adrenaline just means that you add a methyl group to this “N” (the amine group), so the enzyme that would convert norepinephrine to epinephrine is Phenylethanolamine N-methyltransferase, right there, transferring a methyl group.
Remember you need DBH, dopamine beta hydroxylase, in order to make norepinephrine and this is where that hydroxyl group is. You can see the only difference between dopamine and norepinephrine is this beta hydroxyl group. There are only three catecholamines in the body: dopamine, which is an important chemical messenger in the brain, norepinephrine, and adrenaline or epinephrine. And here is how a catecholamine synthesis happens. So, I think of a catecholamine as the entire cat from head to tail in its litter box – that is a catecholamine. Now catecholamine, like norepinephrine for instance or dopamine, is a catechol, but it’s got this hydrocarbon tail and it ends in this amine group or ammonia group which has kind of an ammonia smell.
I think of catecholamines as catechols, they have a chemical structure and the chemical structure has two adjacent hydroxyl groups on a benzene ring and so the two hydroxyl groups kind of look like the pointy ears on the head of a cat. Now I am going to get into my favorite topic which is, “what do catecholamines look like and how do they work?” Remember norepinephrine and adrenaline are two of the key chemical messengers of the sympathetic system.
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