MUSCOSKELETAL SYSTEM

Question 1

______: general term for various toxic plant mixtures used as arrow poisons by Indigenous in Amazonian SA

Answer 1

curare, there were many plant species used but each individual tribe would only use a small subset of species for their preparations

Question 2

which four families/species were mainly used in curare preparations?

Answer 2

Loganiaceae
Menispermaceae
Annonaceae
Rutaceae
(MARL ceae)

Question 3

which two families used in curare poisons actually contain the poisons? curare preparations certainly used vine species from one or both of these families

Answer 3

Menisperaceae
Loganiaceae
(last and first)

Question 4

the Loganiaceae family contain ______ , such as ______

Answer 4

indole alkaloids, such as toxiferine

Question 5

the Menispermaceae family contain ______ , such as ______

Answer 5

isoquinoline alkaloids, such as tubocurarine

Question 6

toxiferine and tubocurarine are both….

Answer 6

muscle relaxants, cause paralysis when injected into the bloodstream
death occurs from respiratory paralysis at high doses

Question 7

toxiferine and tubocurarine are only effective _______, meaning game killed by these poison tipped arrows can still be consumed

Answer 7

parenterally

Question 8

how is curare prepared? usually by a senior male elder of the tribe

Answer 8

inner stem bark is is scrapped away and filtered to collect the concentrate, then rolled onto dart tips and allowed time to dry

Question 9

T/F: victims of curare poisons remain completely motionless but FULLY conscious until death occurs

Answer 9

true! why its so horrifying, basically just waiting for inevitable death OR until it wears off and paralysis goes away

Question 10

T/F: curare is perfectly safe to consume

Answer 10

true! must be injected into bloodstream to work

Question 11

T/F: muscle paralysis from curare poisons cannot be reversed, even if the person remains on a respirator

Answer 11

false! if the person is artificially breathing, the paralysis eventually wears off

people die from curare poisons within 3-5 mins when the paralysis spreads to the muscles of the diaphragm

Question 12

curare remained relatively unknown until the 1930s when Richard Gill tried it as a surgical muscle relaxant, his company effectively isolated the active compound tubocurarine and used it as a skeletal muscle relaxant during surgery- avoiding the use of what?

Answer 12

deep anaesthesia

Question 13

after its worldwide discovery as a muscle relaxant (performed first in Montreal), tubocurarine became highly demanded… what happened because of this?

Answer 13

clinical material was originally obtained from wild plants in the Amazon rainforest but these species were over-harvested and almost went extinct
the shortage then led to the development of safe semi-synthetics!

Question 14

what is the mode of action of tubocurarine? and the subsequent synthetics?

Answer 14

neuromuscular blocking agents that compete with acetylcholine, thus preventing the development of nerve action potential, resulting in muscle relaxation and paralysis

Question 15

plant based arrow poisons are mostly…

Answer 15

toxic cardiac arresting drugs

some (curare) are muscle relaxants
some (strychine) are muscle convulsants

Question 16

which plants were used as cardiac-arresting arrow poisons?

Answer 16

aconite/monkshood
upas latex
dogbane

Question 17

______: used as arrow-poisons in NE Asia and Europe
contains neurotoxin aconitine (poisonous alkaloid)
results in respiratory paralysis and cardiac arresting death

Answer 17

aconite/monkshood

Question 18

monkshood contains ____, a highly poisonous alkaloid that results in respiratory paralysis and cardiac arresting death

Answer 18

aconitine

Question 19

Indigenous groups in ______ used aconite on spear and harpoon points to hunt whales and other aquatic mammals

Answer 19

Alaska

Question 20

_______: member of Mulberry family
used as arrow-poison in SE Asia
bark and foliage both contain numerous cardenolide glycosides (strongly cardiac-arresting), including antiarin

Answer 20

upas latex

Question 21

the latex of the upas tree contains numerous ______, including _______

Answer 21

cardenolide glycosides (strongly cardiac-arresting), including antiarin

Question 22

many members of the ______ family produce latex exudates rich in cardenolide glycosides, like the rapidly-acting ouabain

shrub species used to produce arrow poisons in central Africa

Answer 22

Dogbane

Question 23

what other family produces latex with potent cardenolide glycosides used in Africa? similar to Dogbane?

Answer 23

Milkweed

Question 24

Dogbane contains produce latex with _______, for example _______

Answer 24

cardenolide glycosides
ouabain

Question 25

in the 20th century, many cardiac glycosides used as arrow poisons were investigated for their potential to treat _____

Answer 25

congestive heart failure

most had adverse side effects but it led to the discovery of many effective semi-synthetic stimulants!

Question 26

some cardenolides have been used to treat which three conditions?

Answer 26

cystic fibrosis (inflammatory diseases)
possible anti-cancer agents
pain reducers to painful stimuli

Question 27

in Africa, the plant Strychnos usambarensis is used as a curare-type arrow poison that induces…

Answer 27

muscle paralysis

Question 28

other members of the genus Strychnos contain powerful muscle convulsant alkaloids… ______ & _______

Answer 28

strychinine and brucine

induce powerful uncontrolled spasmoidic muscle contractions and convulsions

Question 29

where were strychnine-based arrow poisons used commonly?

Answer 29

SE Asia and India, produced from seeds from S. nux-vomica and S. ignatii

also used as a homicide poison in 19th century Europe!