What are catecholamines tests?
Definition Catecholamines is a collective term for the hormones epinephrine, norepinephrine, and dopamine. Manufactured chiefly by the chromaffin cells of the adrenal glands, these hormones are involved in readying the body for the “fight-or-flight” response (also known as the alarm reaction). When these hormones are released, the heart beats stronger and faster, blood pressure rises, more blood flows to the brain and muscles, the liver releases stores of energy as a sugar the body can readily use (glucose), the rate of breathing increases and airways widen, and digestive activity slows. These reactions direct more oxygen and fuel to the organs most active in responding to stress–mainly the brain, heart, and skeletal muscles. Purpose Pheochromocytoma (a tumor of the chromaffin cells of the adrenal gland) and tumors of the nervous system (neuroblastomas, ganglioneuroblastomas, and ganglioneuromas) that affect hormone production can cause excessive levels of different catecholamines to
