Question

What is the emergency hormone?

Answer 1

Hint: When we encounter any stressful or emergency situations, some specific hormones are secreted in our bloodstream by the adrenal gland. These hormones help to prepare our body for that particular situation by causing some physiological changes in the body.

Complete answer:
The adrenal medulla secretes two hormones –
> Adrenaline or epinephrine
> Noradrenaline or norepinephrine.
Catecholamine is the common term that is used to denote these two hormones. These hormones are rapidly secreted in our body when we encounter a situation of any kind of stress or emergency. Due to being secreted in such situations, these hormones are called emergency hormones or hormones of Fight or Flight.

Additional Information
After being secreted, the emergency hormones i.e. adrenaline and noradrenaline, alter the condition of our body in the following ways –
- The alertness is increased.
- Pupils become dilated.
- Body hairs get erected which is known as piloerection.
- Sweating is increased as the sweat glands are triggered and pores are opened.
- The heartbeat and the rate of respiration are increased than the normal state.
- The strength of the contraction of the heart is also increased.
In addition to these effects, the hormones also stimulate the breakdown of stored glycogen due to which the concentration of glucose in the blood is increased. The breakdown of lipids and proteins are also increased in the effect of these hormones.

Notes:
- We have one pair of adrenal glands and each one is located on the anterior part of each kidney. Anatomically, the adrenal gland consists of two types of tissues – cortex and medulla. The medulla is centrally located tissue while the cortex lies towards the outer side.
- The adrenal medulla secretes emergency hormones while the adrenal cortex secretes a group of hormones that are commonly called corticoids.