O'Really?

December’s entity of the month at ChEBI is Adrenaline, for all the adrenaline junkies out there. This accompanies ChEBI release 63, containing 536,978 total entities, of which 19,501 are annotated entities and 678 were submitted via the ChEBI submission tool. Text reproduced below from the ChEBI website:

Adrenaline (CHEBI:33568), also known as epinephrine, is a catecholamine that acts as a hormone and neurotransmitter.

It was first isolated from an extract of the suprarenal (adrenal) gland as its mono-benzoyl derivative by the American biochemist and pharmacologist John Jacob Abel in 1889 [1] who later also crystallised it as a hydrate. The pure compound was produced in 1901 by the Japanese industrial chemist Jokichi Takamine [2] and patented as ‘Adrenalin’. Two chemists, Stolz and Dakin, independently reported the synthesis of the compound in 1904 [3,4].

Adrenaline is a potent ‘fight-or-flight’ hormone, which is produced in stress situations. When produced in the body, it leads to an increase in heart-rate, vasodilation and the supply of both glucose and oxygen to the muscles and the brain, thus preparing the body for rapid action if needed. The increase in glucose supply is achieved through the binding of adrenaline to β-adrenergic receptors in the liver. This triggers the adenylate cyclase pathway, which, in turn, leads to increased glycogenolysis activity. On the other hand, adrenaline suppresses both digestive processes as well as immune responses. As such, it can be used in the treatment of anaphylactic shock [5] as well as for the treatment of cardiac arrest and cardiac disrythmias [6].

The biosynthesis of adrenaline is regulated by the central nervous system. It is ultimately derived from L-tyrosine, which is converted into L-dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-DOPA) by the action of tyrosine 3-monooxygenase (EC 1.14.16.2). Adrenaline is produced through the conversion of L-DOPA into dopamine into noradrenaline into adrenaline itself.

References

1. Abel, J.J. (1899) Ueber den blutdruckerregenden Bestandtheil der Nebenniere, das Epinephrin. Z. Physiol. Chem. 18, 318–324.
2. Takamine, J., (1902) The isolation of the active principle of the suprarenal gland. J. Physiol. 27 (Suppl), xxix–xxx.
3. Stolz, F. (1904) Ueber Adrenalin und Alkylaminoacetobrenzkatechin. Ber. Dtsch. Chem. Ges. 37, 4149–4154.
4. Dakin, H.D. (1905) The synthesis of a substance allied to noradrenaline. Proc. Roy. Soc. Lon. Ser. B 76, 491–497.
5. ANCHOR, J. (2004). Appropriate use of epinephrine in anaphylaxis The American Journal of Emergency Medicine, 22 (6), 488-490 DOI: 10.1016/j.ajem.2004.07.016
6. Rainer TH, & Robertson CE (1996). Adrenaline, cardiac arrest, and evidence based medicine. Journal of accident & emergency medicine, 13 (4), 234-7 PMID: 8832338

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