curare

curare

 [koo-rah´re]

any of a wide variety of highly toxic extracts from various botanical sources, including various species of Strychnos, a genus of tropical trees; used originally as arrow poisons in South America. A form extracted from the shrub Chondodendron tomentosum has been used as a skeletal muscle relaxant.

Miller-Keane Encyclopedia and Dictionary of Medicine, Nursing, and Allied Health, Seventh Edition. © 2003 by Saunders, an imprint of Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.

cu·ra·re

(kū-rah'rē),

An extract of various plants, especially Strychnos toxifera, S. castelnaei, S. crevauxii, and Chondodendron tomentosum, which produces nondepolarizing paralysis of skeletal muscle after intravenous injection by blocking transmission at the myoneuronal junction; indigenous South American hunters of the Amazon and Orinoco regions use arrowheads dipped in curare; curare is used clinically (for example, as d-tubocurarine chloride, metocurine iodide) to relax muscles during surgery. Often classified by the types of vessels in which hunters stored it (for example, pot curare).

Synonym(s): arrow poison (1)

[fr. urarr, Tupí (an indigenous S. Am. language)]

Farlex Partner Medical Dictionary © Farlex 2012

curare

also

curari

(ko͝o-rä′rē, kyo͝o-)

n.

1. A dark resinous extract obtained from several tropical American woody plants, especially Chondrodendron tomentosum or certain species of Strychnos, used as an arrow poison by some Indian peoples of South America.

2.

a. Any of several purified preparations of such an extract, used formerly as a drug to relax skeletal muscles during anesthesia.

b. The drug tubocurarine.

3. Any of the plants that yield curare.

The American Heritage® Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2007, 2004 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

curare

Anesthesiology A neuromuscular-blocking alkaloid used as an adjuvant in surgical anesthesia for skeletal muscle relaxation and to prevent trauma in electroconvulsive therapy

McGraw-Hill Concise Dictionary of Modern Medicine. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

cu·ra·re

(kyū-rah'rē)

An extract of various plants, especially Strychnos toxifera, S. castelnaei, S. crevauxii, and Chondodendron tomentosum, which produces nondepolarizing paralysis of skeletal muscle after intravenous injection by blocking transmission at the myoneuronal junction; indigenous South American hunters of the Amazon and Orinoco regions use arrowheads dipped in curare; used clinically to relax muscles during surgery.

Medical Dictionary for the Health Professions and Nursing © Farlex 2012

curare

One of a group of resinous extracts from various South American trees of the genera Chondodendron and Strychnos . It was used as an arrow poison called ‘woorara paste’. Curare acts at the junction between nerves and muscles and produces complete paralysis of all voluntary movement without having any effect on consciousness. See also CURARINE.

Collins Dictionary of Medicine © Robert M. Youngson 2004, 2005

curare

a paralysing poison originally extracted from the root of Strychnos toxifera by South American Indians and used on arrowheads. Nowadays it is a valuable source of drugs. Its action in paralysis is to prevent ACETYLCHOLINE depolarizing the postsynaptic membrane, particularly at nerve/ muscle junctions, thus preventing the passage of the nerve impulse and so rendering the victim immobile.

Collins Dictionary of Biology, 3rd ed. © W. G. Hale, V. A. Saunders, J. P. Margham 2005

cu·ra·re

(kyū-rah'rē)

An extract of various plants that produces nondepolarizing paralysis of skeletal muscle after intravenous injection by blocking transmission at the myoneuronal junction; used clinically to relax muscles during surgery.

Medical Dictionary for the Dental Professions © Farlex 2012