curare Flashcards
curare
term referring to the various toxic plant mixtures used as arrow poisons by the indigenous tribes of amazonia
prep is done by male elders
a great many plant species were used in these curare preps, although only a few were used by a given tribal group ex.
jamamadi ppl: strychnos solimoesana curarea toxicofera guatteria megalophylla zanthophyllum spp.
curare prep
inner stem bark scrapped away and filtered through a sieve to collect the concentrate which is carefully rolled onto dart tips and allowed to dry
two plant families provide the potent curare poisons and the curare preparations invariable contain vine (liana) species from
one or both of these families
genus strychnos
menispermaceae
strychnos
s. toxifera and other
in the loganieaceae fam
contain indole alkaloid curarine
menispermaceae
chondrodendron and curarea
isoquinoline alkaloid tubocurarine
curarine and tubocurarin
powerful muscle relaxers that cant paralyze
must be injected into blood stream (safe to consume)
it initially paralyzes the
neck and facial and then the limbs, then to abdominal and respiratory muscles and within 3-5 min the muscles of the diaphragm
ppl proved paralysis is reversible
if an artificial respirator is used to keep the patient alive, muscle use is soon regained and a full recovery is made
Richard gill
american living in the amazon,
biochem and clinical investigations into the potential of curare as a surgical muscle relaxant
-he was the sole supplier of curare to the pharm company squibb and sons
amazonian ecuador and peru
home of achuar ppl
practiced head shrinking
squibb and sons
isolated tubocurarine from chondrodendron in 1941
tubocurarine
- effectiveness as a skeletal muscle relaxant during surgery
- demonstrated by montreal surgeon harold griffith
for surgies plant material collected wildly from amazon
mainly two membrs of the menispermaceae: chondrodendron tomentosusm and curarea toxicofera
demand was high so there was a shortage , spurred the developement of
safe semi synthetics : toxiferine (trade name alcuronium)