History/ Discovery

The compound norepinephrine has been around as long as living creatures have existed. In 1946, the Swedish scientist Ulf Svante von Euler first discovered norepinephrine (primarily called noradrenalin at the time). He also found that the nervous system used norepinephrine and not epinephrine as a neurotransmitters. In 1947, Peter Wilhelm Joseph Holtz found that norepinephrine functions occurred in the brain. Today we know of norepinephrine as one of three catecholamine, (dopamine, norepinephrine, epinephrine) which are neurotransmitters found in the central nervous system. In the past 60 years, more advances have been made with adrenaline. It is now manipulated to treat conditions by maintaining certain levels of adrenaline in the body at any given time. To simplify things, the function of norepinephrine treatment can be compared to vitamin supplements in the body (there to either fight off certain substances or add to the body's current content of a certain substance.

Von Euler - Nobel Prize Winner

Norepinephrine Pathways Occur in the brain