Curare

curare (kyrär`ē), any of a variety of substances originally used as arrow poisons by Native South Americans in hunting and in warfare. The main active substance of curare, tubocurarine, is an alkaloid extracted from Chondodendron tomentosum, Strychnos toxifera, and other plant species. The poison produces muscle paralysis by interfering with the transmission of nerve impulses at the receptor sites of all skeletal muscle. Muscles with many nerves, such as eye muscles, are affected first. In recent years curare has been put to medical use. When given in small quantities with general anesthesia, especially in abdominal surgery, curare ensures the desired relaxation of muscle tissue with a minimal concentration of the anesthetic, lessening the possibilities of anesthesia-induced complications. Curare is also used to relieve spastic paralysis, to treat some mental disorders, and to induce muscle relaxation for the setting of fractures.

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curare

Organic compound, an alkaloid that occurs in various tropical American plants (mostly of the genus Strychnos) and causes paralysis. Crude preparations have long been used by native people as an arrow poison. It relaxes skeletal muscle by competing with acetylcholine at nerve endings. A purified form is used in anesthesiology to prevent any movement of patients during surgery. Small amounts bring profound relaxation, with prompt recovery and few complications.

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curare, curari

1. black resin obtained from certain tropical South American trees, esp Chondrodendron tomentosum, acting on the motor nerves to cause muscular paralysis: used medicinally as a muscle relaxant and by South American Indians as an arrow poison

2. any of various trees of the genera Chondrodendron (family Menispermaceae) and Strychnos (family Loganiaceae) from which this resin is obtained

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curare [kyü′rä·rē]

(organic chemistry)

Poisonous extract from the plantStrychnos toxiferacontaining a mixture of alkaloids that produce paralysis of the voluntary muscles by acting on synaptic junctions; used as an adjunct to anesthesia in surgery.

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Curare 

(from Carib kurari), a mixture of condensed extracts from plants of the genera Strychnos, Chondodendron, and other South American groups.

Upon entering the blood, curare blocks the transmission of neural impulses from the motor nerves to the skeletal musculature, causing muscular relaxation. Curare was used for centuries by natives of South America as an arrow poison. It contains a large number of alkaloids of the curarine group. Curariform agents are used for therapeutic purposes.