Sympathomimetic agents are able to activate the sympathetic nervous system either directly via adrenergic receptors or indirectly by increasing endogenous catecholamine levels or mimicking their intracellular signaling pathways. They can be used pharmacologically or in this case are also frequently abused.
In this review, we discussed the pharmacological and mainly toxicological aspects related to, in particular of trace amines, and compounds derived from plants like ephedra and khat, and cocaine.