Question

Which of the hormones is responsible for the emotional state such as fear and anger and causes the rise of blood pressure and the rate of a heartbeat?
(a) Insulin
(b) Adrenaline
(c) Progesterone
(d) Thyroxine

Answer 1

Hint: It is generally produced by both the adrenal glands and from a small number of neurons in the medulla. It is also called emergency hormones.

Complete answer:
The human body has one pair of adrenal glands, one at the anterior part of each kidney. The gland is composed of two types of tissues; the centrally located tissue called the adrenal medulla and outside of this lies the adrenal cortex. Adrenaline also acts as a neurotransmitter involved in regular visceral functions. The two types of hormones secreted by the adrenal medulla are known as adrenaline or epinephrine and noradrenaline or norepinephrine. These are commonly called catecholamines. Both of these hormones are fastly secreted in response to the stress of any emergency situations and so they are called emergency hormones or hormones of fight or flight. It plays a major role in fight-flight responses in the human body and causes an increase in blood flow of the muscles and heartbeat. These hormones increase alertness, pupillary dilation, piloerection, sweating, etc. Both adrenaline and noradrenaline increase the heartbeat, the strength of heart contraction, and the rate of respiration.
So, the correct answer is ‘adrenaline’.

Note:
- Pupillary dilation is the response of a pupil by varying the size via optic nerve because of adrenaline.
- Piloerection or goosebumps are the bristlings of hairs due to reflexive responses.
- Stress, anxiety, or a tumor on the adrenal glands causes an adrenaline rush.
- During exercise, the adrenaline rises partially from increased secretion from the adrenal medulla and partly from decreased metabolism of reduced blood flow.