What physiologic actions do catecholamines and cortisol have in common & how do they differ in their actions?
The short answer is that both are “stress” hormones, released in times of stress such as the flight-or-fight response. However, they differ in their actions in that catecholamines have various actions on the heart, blood vessels, kidney, liver — and the several different catecholamines have opposite effects such as increasing/decreasing glucose levels or increasing/decreasing heart rate or constricting/dilating blood vessels. Cortisol, on the other hand, has it most important effects on blood glucose, increasing it so that is available for the body to use during the stressful period. Cortisol also has some other actions on white blood cells, water metabolism, and has also been shown to be necessary for catecholamines to exert their full effect. However, animals that don’t have the ability to produce cortisol do not survive when exposed to a stressor, showing how important cortisol is in the stress response.
