Curare

Useful properties and application of curare

Description of curare

Curare – this is a fairly large liana, we can say that its stem is similar in structure to a tree, and has a volume reaching 10 cm. Heart-shaped large leaves with pedicels are located on the stem, arranged alternately. From above, the leaves are smooth, their veins are clearly visible, and from below they are covered with hairs that have a white tint. In addition, on the vine there are small flowers that have a greenish color, collected in tassels. On the female flowers, juicy, very small fruits of an oval shape tapering to the base are formed.

The past of this plant is quite interesting and rich. Initially, Indian tribes learned about curare, and they called it differently – then curari, cururu and similar names. Also, for a long period of time there were disagreements about which plant is the basis for making poison, since numerous tribes used various types of plants and their combinations for these purposes. Curare is a poison used in weapons such as the bow.

And 75 years ago, R. Gill, a scientist from America, nevertheless managed to identify which plant actually served as the raw material for curare poison. This plant turned out to be Chondodendrontomentosum, a member of the Menispermaceae family. In the course of further research, the scientist found that two types of curare were used by the Indians. Their division into species was on two grounds – the symptoms that are observed at death, as well as the raw materials that were used, and the method of storage of the extract made from it.

This extract could be stored in a tube made of processed bamboo stem or in a special pot. It mainly stored many types of poisons obtained from Strychnostoxifera, which is part of the Loganiaceae family. This poison combined all the qualities of strychine plants. But the most dangerous and fast-acting poison, extracted from Chondrodendrontomentosum, was stored in unusual bamboo tubes.

Curare is one of the most powerful poisons of plant origin. It was widely used by South American tribes for hunting to grease arrows. But curare poison was also used in other areas of life. The Spanish conquerors first tried the effect of this poison on themselves when they tried to enslave the tribes of the Indians. And white people were very afraid of the mysterious and terrible poison of curare.

In Europe, this poison first appeared thanks to W. Reilly. He was a versatile person. He was also a knight to the queen, a talented poet and writer, as well as a famous traveler who discovered many new corners of the earth. Unfortunately, after him there were no testifying documents about curare. The very first documented records were made by a clergyman from Spain after he visited the banks of the great Amazon River.

But a little later, the scientist Charles Marie de la Condamen brought to France both the poison itself and knowledge about the process of its manufacture, and most interestingly, he stole this information from the Indians. At this event, the history of curare did not end, but received a new impetus for the study of the most mysterious poison in the world.

At that time, there was very little information about curare – only that it was extracted from plants belonging to the genus Strychnos, whose habitat is South American territories, and the Indians used them to hunt animals and defend against various aggressions of the conquerors. Historical documents of that time contain a lot of stories about how the Indians hunted animals using curare poison. And one of these sources describes how quickly this poison acted, literally in a matter of minutes.

Further study of curare led to grandiose discoveries, which became the basis for the progressive development of scientific knowledge.

In the 19th century, many scientists believed that the transition of an exciting impulse from a nerve fiber to a muscle is a kind of phenomenon that has physical characteristics, a kind of electrical process. However, ongoing studies aimed at identifying the main effect of curare on the body, cast doubt on these conclusions.

In the middle of the 19th century, the French physician C. Bernard received a curare from the Emperor of France, Napoleon III, as a gift for conducting the necessary experiments and research. And the scientist proved that the poison has no effect on either the muscles or the nervous activity. However, a natural question arose here: what and how led the animal to death? If the poison had no effect on the muscular and nervous system of the animal, why did immobility and paralysis set in? Even after a little less than a quarter of a century, this remained a mystery.

This poison aroused incredible interest, many scientists began to conduct experiments, various studies to find out the mechanism of its action. Some of them suggested that in the space that is located between the muscles and nerves, there is something that is susceptible to curare. And this place, where the contact of nerve fibers with muscles, was given such a name as a synapse.

Thanks to the discovery of the synapse and the substance in it, discoveries were made regarding the mechanism of the effect of the poison on the body. After being hit by a poison, the synoptic substance cannot transmit momentum, and it is unable to overcome the synoptic gap. It is because of this that muscle inactivity occurs. Despite the fact that the animal seems to be ready to run away, there is a complete relaxation of the muscles, the respiratory system is paralyzed, and it dies.

It seems that everything, the principle of action of curare became clear, but his story did not end there. New research began during the Second World War and continues to this day. At this time, experiments are being carried out to identify the mechanism of action of curare in the field of anesthesiology. During the operation, the famous doctors Griffith and Johnson used one of the elements of this poison – intokostrin. And it turned out to be very effective – the dose of the drug was reduced due to curare.

Now curare derivatives play a huge role in anesthesiology. These are muscle relaxants, and their action is very important. And the history of this field of medicine is divided into two parts. The first part is the period before the appearance of muscle relaxants, and the second part is the beginning of their use.

Also interesting is the classification of curare, which includes several subspecies.

The first subspecies is the pipe curare. It is also called tubo-curare. Curare essence is placed in bamboo tubes, their length should be 25 cm. Such a blank was used to lubricate bow arrows. This subspecies of this poison had the strongest medicinal effect, and its main alkaloid is called tubarine. Its hydrochloride component is used for surgical purposes as a muscle relaxant, while tubocurarine chloride is ideal for the effects of strychnine poisoning.

The second subspecies is potted curare. Concentrated vegetable raw materials are put into a clay pot, necessarily unfired, and later used during bird hunting.

The third subspecies is pumpkin curare. The extract is stored in small gourds. Such a poison is the most powerful, and it is used to hunt large animals, or to repel attacks by enemies. The main part of the concentrated raw material is nitrogen-containing organic compounds of the plant Strychnos toxifera

The principle of the mechanism of action of curare is as follows. The poison causes paralysis of the nerves responsible for movement, all striated and respiratory muscles. The consequence of this is suffocation with a fatal outcome, and, interestingly, consciousness is not disturbed. In addition, if the poison is not enough, it is possible to return to life with the help of artificial respiration, since the poison is excreted with the help of the kidneys. But in order to poison curare, it is enough to injure the skin.

The poison has found wide application in physiology, as well as for conducting experiments on animals. And the antidote for curare are substances that slow down or even prevent the course of a chemical reaction, such as cholinesterase inhibitors.

Useful properties of curare

Despite the fact that curare is a raw material for poison, it also has useful properties. Curare contains the following active substances: the alkaloid that determines the poisonous properties of Chondrodendrontomentosum is d-tubocurarine. This alkaloid has the following medicinal properties – it is an extraordinary substance that disrupts the functions of nerve impulses that control muscles.

This blockage leads to paralysis of the fingers of the upper and lower extremities, eyelids, vision, hearing, then the face, neck, arms, legs come to a state of paralysis, and then death occurs after paralysis of the respiratory system. During the last stage of dying, called agony, the liver becomes inflamed and the skin becomes bluish. To activate the toxic effect of the poison, it needs to get into the blood. And if you lick it, then there will be no consequences.

The use of curare

 Since ancient times, shamans of Indian tribes have widely used curare for diuretic purposes. In addition, the action of curare helped violent patients during regular exacerbations. Curare was also used to treat dropsy, kidney stones – patients were given the remedy internally. And externally used to apply compresses for bruises. In addition, modern Brazilians widely use the root of Chondrodendron tomentosum, and take it orally in very small doses to cure dropsy, fever, insanity, and externally for bruises.

Several methods were used to prepare the poison. The most famous is the classic. Following this method, the crushed leaves, stems and roots of Chondrodendrontomentosum were transferred to a liquid phase over low heat, sometimes they were added, for example, the blood of poisonous frogs or snakes. At the same time, the boiling substance was stirred and brought to a thick consistency.

The venom used to hunt small game was lighter in color, while the most powerful venom was almost black and almost solid and smelled of resin. And with the help of this poison they hit targets, first they smeared them with special thin sticks and blew them out of the tubes.

The word “curare” has Native American roots and means poison. And only shamans could prepare this poison, and the death penalty awaited those who violated this tradition.

For a large amount of time, curare was used only in scientific research in order to immobilize the animal, but with the condition of preserving the vital activity of the organism. However, now preparations containing curare have found other uses. They are widely used in the field of surgery, it perfectly relaxes all muscles in a state of anesthesia. And also with the help of curare, you can suppress respiratory movements in order to connect artificial respiration systems.

Thanks to curare and preparations containing it, it has become possible to carry out the most complex operations on the heart, respiratory tract, and organ transplants, since for this it is necessary to completely relax the muscles and turn off spontaneous breathing.

In the treatment of nervous diseases, curare preparations are used to relieve spasmodic reactions from muscles, as well as in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease.

But today, synthetically created drugs that have a muscle relaxant effect are widely used, since curare does not grow in Russia, and drugs containing it are supplied from abroad. And now anesthesiologists can choose a large number of drugs to relax the muscles, in addition, curare-like agents are widely used.

Contraindications curare

Since curare has toxic properties, when using it, it is necessary to observe exact dosages, and in no case should it be taken on its own, without a doctor’s prescription.