In this study, we investigated the transcriptional regulation of the adrenergic induction of type II iodothyronine deiodinase (Dio2) in rat pinealocytes. Treatment of pinealocytes with norepinephrine (NE) caused an increase in the mRNA level of Dio2 that peaked around 2 h and declined over the next 5 h. Both - and ₁-adrenergic receptors contributed to the NE induction of Dio2 expression through a cAMP / protein kinase A mechanism. In pinealocytes that had been stimulated by NE, inhibition of transcription by actinomycin had no discernible effect on Dio2 expression. In contrast, inhibition of protein synthesis by cycloheximide enhanced the NE induction of Dio2 expression, suggesting the involvement of a repressor protein. Transient transfection of pinealocytes with adenovirus expressing small interfering RNA (siRNA) against Fos-related antigen 2 (Fra2) enhanced the NE induction of Dio2 expression whereas the effect of over-expression of the full length transcript of Fra2 was inhibitory. Time course study indicated that preventing the NE induction of Fra2 enhanced the NE induction of Dio2 after 3 h and the enhancement persisted beyond 6 h after NE stimulation. In comparison, transient transfection of pinealocytes with siRNA against inducible cAMP early repressor (Icer) had no effect on the NE induction of Dio2 expression, whereas over-expression of the full length transcript of Icer caused a small reduction of the NE-stimulated Dio2 expression. Together, our results support Fra-2 as an important transcriptional repressor that helps shape the time profile of the adrenergic induction of Dio2 expression in the rat pineal gland.