Talk:Epinephrine

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[edit] Archive

This talk page was getting quite unruly and lacked structure, so I archived it. --BJ 22:53, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] The name issue

Epinephrine or adrenaline: what do people think about a poll? --David Iberri (talk) 02:52, 8 November 2006 (UTC)

I'm not sure what the problem is, in the U.S. Epinephrine is the medical name and adrenaline is the common name, I would think the medical name would be the articles names as well. BJ^Talk 04:41, 8 November 2006 (UTC)

The issue was brought up here some time ago (see archives). You're right that epinephrine is favored in US medical literature. But abroad, adrenaline predominates in scientific literature as well as among laypeople. --David Iberri (talk) 04:58, 8 November 2006 (UTC)

Is there a more scientific name for epinephrine/adrenaline? If so we move the page to that name and redirect all other names to it, else I would support a poll. BJ^Talk 05:11, 8 November 2006 (UTC)

Also I thought we prefer INN naming if possible. BJ^Talk 05:20, 8 November 2006 (UTC)

There's no more scientific name that I'm aware of. IMO, if there's a term that's universally understood and accepted by a large majority of scientists and medical practitioners, then it should be preferred. In this case, I believe the MoS's use common names for things policy should take precedence over its recommendation to use the INN name. --David Iberri (talk) 05:30, 8 November 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, I agree with your stance now, so I think a poll would be a good idea. BJ^Talk 05:37, 8 November 2006 (UTC)

Just an extra perspective: I teach science in an Australian high school, and am also the son of a surgeon, so I have a pretty good handle on scientific language. The use of the word "epinephrine" is very uncommon here. It is generally only KNOWN by the medical/scientific community, and even there it is often regarded as a rather quaint Americanism. The name for the hormone is generally considered adrenaline. In fact, when the staff at my school were trained to use an epipen, only I knew where its name came from. . .Johno 14:12, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

As a UK medical student, I can also confirm that Epinephrine is indeed an americanism. Here the accepted clinical term is also adrenaline, and all British medical texts will ONLY call it adrenaline, including the gods of pharmacology; Rang, Dale, Ritter, and Moore. Afterall, the correct term for an adrenaline receptor is an adrenoceptor/adrenergic receptor and the gland it is produced from is the adrenal gland. It then seems a little confusing to call the neurotransmitter 'epinephrine' or 'norepinephrine'.Swarvellous dude 18:10, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

The BMJ in 2000 had an interesting article rooting for "adrenaline" [1]. --David Iberri (talk) 03:17, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

Not an Americanism: I'm a medical student at the Faculty of Medicine of Lisbon and I can say that the term "epinefrina" in portuguese is preferred to "adrenalina" the common everyday name. In European scientific articles, the word epinephrin is becoming more and more common as time passes and sometimes it is preferred as a more scientific term.

Yes, there are some medical communities outside the US that prefer "epinephrine" over "adrenaline". Regardless, "adrenaline" is no less "scientific" than "epinephrine" and is therefore no less acceptable in theory. Keep in mind that we aren't writing an encyclopedia for scientists, and even if we were, those in favor of "epinephrine" are clearly in the minority as far as I can tell. Perhaps the strongest case for using "adrenaline" on WP is that it's almost universally understood by laypeople and scientists alike. --David Iberri (talk) 03:26, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

Also, if you check the most important Biochemistry books (Harper's and Devlin, for instance), you'll see they write epinephrin and not adrenalin. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 62.169.114.249 (talk) 16:24, 12 December 2006 (UTC).

I'm not sure who edited Harper's biochem, but as far as I know, Devlin is an American (I think he's at Drexel), so it's no wonder he prefers "epinephrine". --David Iberri (talk) 03:26, 13 December 2006 (UTC)