Information AboutCurare |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT CURARE | |
| muscle relaxants | |
| nicotinic antagonists | |
| neurotoxins | |
| SHOPPER'S DELIGHT | |
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Curare is a substance containing the Alkaloid D- Tubocurarine . It is obtained from one of several Plant s, the purified products of which are used as Skeletal Muscle Relaxants . Curare has been superseded by a number of curare-like agents that have a similar pharmacodynamic profile but with fewer side effects. Curare is an example of a non-depolarising Muscle Relaxant which blocks the nicotinic receptors, one of the two types of cholinergic ( Acetylcholine ) receptors on the post synaptic membrane of the Neuromuscular Junction . Curare has also been used historically as a paralyzing Poison by South American Indigenous people. The prey is killed by Asphyxiation as the respiratory muscles are unable to contract resulting in Apnea . CURARE AND ANAESTHESIA Muscle relaxants are used in modern Anaesthesia for many reasons, such as providing optimal operating conditions and facilitating intubation of the trachea. Before muscle relaxants, anaesthesiologists needed to use larger doses of the anaesthetic agent, such as Ether or Cyclopropane to achieve these aims. Such deep anaesthesia risked killing patients that were elderly or had Heart Conditions . On January 23 , 1942 , Dr. Harold Griffith and Dr. Enid Johnson gave a synthetic preparation of curare (Intracostin) to a patient undergoing an Appendectomy (to supplement conventional anaesthesia). Modern anaesthetists have at their disposal a variety of Muscle Relaxant s for use as a standard component of anaesthesia. The ability to produce muscle relaxation independently from anaesthesia has permitted anaesthesiologists to adjust the two effects as needed to ensure that their patients are safely unconscious and sufficiently relaxed to permit surgery. However, it has also made possible Anaesthesia Awareness , a condition in which, through error or accident, a patient remains fully conscious and sensitive to pain during surgery, but is unable to move and thus unable to alert attending staff to their state of awareness. PLANTS FROM WHICH CURARE CAN BE EXTRACTED
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