muscle relaxant (redirected from Muscle relaxants, central)

relaxant /re·lax·ant/ (re-lak´sant)

1. lessening or reducing tension.

2. an agent that so acts.

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muscle relaxant  an agent that specifically aids in reducing muscle tension.

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muscle relaxant,

an agent that reduces the contractility of muscle fibers. Curare derivatives and succinylcholine compete with acetylcholine and block neural transmission at the myoneural junction. These drugs are used during anesthesia, in the management of patients undergoing mechanical ventilation, and in shock therapy, to reduce muscle contractions in pharmacologically or electrically induced seizures. Several drugs that relieve muscle spasms act at various levels in the central nervous system: baclofen inhibits reflexes at the spinal level; cyclobenzaprine acts primarily in the brainstem; and the benzodiazepines reduce muscle tension, chiefly by acting on mechanisms that control muscle tone. Dantrolene acts directly on muscles in reducing contraction and apparently achieves its effect by interfering with the release of calcium from the sarcoplasmic reticulum.

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relaxant (rēlak´snt),

n an anti-spasmodic; a drug that relaxes spasms of smooth or skeletal muscle; a drug used to eliminate muscle spasms, thus facilitating the establishment of centric relation, centric occlusion, rest position, and so on. Also used in the treatment of painful muscle spasms associated with occlusal traumatism. Examples are mephenesin, the meprobamates, and methocarbamol (Robaxin).

relaxant, muscle,

n a drug that specifically aids in lessening muscle tension.

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muscle relaxant

an agent that specifically aids in reducing muscle tone. Most such agents inhibit the transmission of nerve impulses at the somatic neuromuscular junctions. They include tubocurarine, gallamine, pancuronium, succinylcholine and decamethonium bromide.

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muscle relaxant

Anesthesiology An agent used in anesthesiology to facilitate airway management, control alveolar ventilation, abolish motor reflexes, and provide the muscle relaxation. Depolarizing agents, eg succinylcholine, cause a prolonged depolarization of the motor end plate. Nondepolarizing agents, eg pancuronium, are competitive inhibitors of acetylcholine at the motor end plate See Depolarizing agent, Nondepolarizing agent.