Monday, February 24, 2014

Hormones

To help understand hormones, we each chose a specific one and made an informational podcast.

Transcript:

Have you ever had that “butterflies in your stomach” feeling before giving a presentation? Has a friend who has a severe allergy to a food ever told you about their EPI-pin? These reactions are caused by the hormone Epinephrine, which is more commonly known as adrenalin as it is secreted by the adrenal glands.Epinephrine is a water soluble hormone, meaning that it is able to be absorbed into the blood stream. Also, it has a positive feedback loop, meaning that it continues to increase itself, as opposed to shutting itself down. The receptor for epinephrine is the adrenergic receptor which is located on the plasma membrane of primarily liver cells.The release of adrenaline is triggered by high stress situations such as heat, bright lights, excitement, noise or especially physical threat. The two key enzymes, dopamine-hydroxylase and tyrosine-hydroxylase, are the two catalysts in beginning the synthesis of adrenaline, which results in the release of adrenaline into the blood stream.  The primary function of epinephrine is to increase blood flow throughout the body. In situations such as cardiac arrest or anaphylactic shock, an Epi-pin would help bllod to keep flowing and hopefully save a person’s life. 


(Link to recording to follow)

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