Adrenaline of epinephrine can be seen in autonomic neuropathy or following adrenalectomy. Failure of the adrenal cortex, as with Addisons disease, can suppress epinephrine secretion as the activity of the synthesing enzyme, phenylethanolamine-"N"-methyltransferase, depends on the high concentration of cortisol that drains from the cortex to the medulla. In 1901, Jokichi Takamine patented a purified extract from the adrenal glands, and called it "adrenalin" (from the Latin for "on top of the kidneys" ("ad" and "renal"), which was trademarked by Parke, Davis & Co in the US. The British Approved Name and European Pharmacopoeia term for this drug is hence "adrenaline".
Autonomic nervous system system is often considered the "fight or flight" system, while the parasympathetic nervous system is often considered the "rest and digest" or "feed and breed" system. In many cases, both of these systems have "opposite" actions where one system activates a physiological response and the other inhibits it. An older simplification of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems as "excitatory" and "inhibitory" was overturned due to the many exceptions found. A more modern characterization is that the sympathetic nervous system is a "quick response mobilizing system" and the parasympathetic is a "more slowly activated dampening system", but even this has