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Glite Dictionary
noradrenergic

noradrenergic

1 9.9
Relating to nerve cells that use noradrenaline, a brain chemical
  • adjective
  • /ˌnɔːrəˈdrɛnərdʒɪk/
  • Specialized
: noradrenérgico
  • Studies show that the noradrenergic system is crucial for regulating stress responses in the brain.

Examples

  • Research has implicated a plethora of serotonergic, dopaminergic, cholinergic, and noradrenergic pathways in every disorder.

    Academic text (1995)

  • In this regard, it is of interest that the noradrenergic innervation of the neocortex may play a role in focusing the vascular response (Bekar et al., 2012), a concept that requires further exploration.

    Academic text (2017)

  • Clinicians often consider the noradrenergic pathways when assessing treatments for anxiety disorders.

  • The noradrenergic neurons in the locus coeruleus play a significant role in attention and arousal.

Surface Forms

noradrenergic positive

Morphology

noradrenergic = adrenergic (semi-transparent) = nor + adrenergic + nor

The relation to 'adrenergic' is clear, but the prefix 'nor-' is specialized chemical/neurobiological terminology and may not be obvious to average learners.

Etymology

Noradrenergic comes from noradrenaline, another name for the brain chemical norepinephrine, and the ending -ergic, which means 'working with' or 'using'. So noradrenergic describes nerve cells or systems that 'use' noradrenaline.