The alpha-2C adrenergic receptor (ñ<sub>2C</sub> adrenoceptor), also known as ADRA2C, is an alpha-2 adrenergic receptor, and also denotes the human gene encoding it.
Alpha-2-adrenergic receptors include 3 highly homologous subtypes: alpha<sub>2A</sub>, alpha<sub>2B</sub>, and alpha<sub>2C</sub>. These receptors have a critical role in regulating neurotransmitter release from sympathetic nerves and from adrenergic neurons in the central nervous system. Studies in mice revealed that both the alpha<sub>2A</sub> and alpha<sub>2C</sub> subtypes were required for normal presynaptic control of transmitter release from sympathetic nerves in the heart and from central noradrenergic neurons; the alpha<sub>2A</sub> subtype inhibited transmitter release at high stimulation frequencies, whereas the alpha<sub>2C</sub> subtype modulated neurotransmission at lower levels of nerve activity.
This gene encodes the alpha2C subtype, which contains no introns in either its coding or untranslated sequences.