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| CURARE |
Family: Menispermaceae
Genus: Chondrodendron
Species: tomentosum
Common Names: Curare, Grieswurzel, Pareira Brava, Pareira, Vigne Sauvage
Parts Used: Leaf, Root |
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DESCRIPTION
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Properties/Actions: |
Diuretic, Emmenagogue, Febrifuge, Muscle Relaxant, Poison,
Tonic |
Phytochemicals: |
Chondocurarine, Chondocurine, Chondodine, Curine, Cycleanine,
D-tubocurarine, Isochondodendrine, L-beeberine, L-tubocurarine,
N-benzyl-phthalimide, Norcycleanine, Pelonine, Tomentocurine,
Tubocurarine |
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| COUNTRY |
ETHNOBOTANY WORLDWIDE USES |
Brazil |
Bruises, Diuretic, Dropsy, Emmenagogue, Febrifuge, Madness,
Poison(Arrow) |
Germany |
Diuretic, Tonic |
Elsewhere |
Antiseptic, Diuretic, Fever, Poison(Arrow), Poison, Tonic |
Peru |
Edema, Rever, Kidney Stones, Orchitis, Poison(Arrow) |
Venezuela |
Poison(Arrow) |
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| Quoted References |
Chondrodendron tomentosum R.&P. Menispermaceae. "Ampihuasca", "Curaré". Some natives, crush and cook the roots and stems, adding
other plants and venomous animals, mixing until it becomes a light syrup; they
call this decoction "ampi", or "curaré", which they use on the tip of their
arrows and darts. The active ingredient in "curaré" is D-tubocurarine,
actually used in medicine. Brazilians consider the root diuretic, emmenagogue,
and febrifuge (SAR), using it internally for madness and dropsy, externally
for bruises. Used for edema, fever, kidney stones, and orchitis (RAR)."
"Description: This plant grows to be a large canopy liana that may get
as thick as 10 cm in diameter at its base. It has alternate, simple, entire
cordate leaves. The leaves may be 10-20cm long and almost the same wide with a
5-15cm long petiole (TBC). The leaves are smooth above and hairy white below,
with veins radiating palmately from the leaf base. The inflorescences consist
of separate clusters of male and female flowers, each of which is small
(1-2mm), greenish-white, and inconspicuous. The fleshy fruits are oval-oblong,
approximately 1-2mm long, and narrow at the base (TBC)." |
| From Encyclopedia Britannica : |
"Curare, skeletal-muscle-relaxant drug belonging to the alkaloid family of
organic compounds. Of botanical origin, it is used in modern medicine
primarily as an auxiliary in general anesthesia, frequently with cyclopropane,
especially in abdominal surgery. Upon injection, curare acts as a
neuromuscular blocking agent to produce flaccidity in striated (striped)
muscle (it competes with acetylcholine at the nerve ending, preventing nerve
impulses from activating skeletal, or voluntary, muscles). It first affects
the muscles of the toes, ears, and eyes, then those of the neck and limbs,
and, finally, those involved in respiration. In fatal doses, death is caused
by respiratory paralysis.
Crude preparations called curare have been used
as arrow poisons in hunting wild game by the Indians of South America. Sources
include various tropical American plants (primarily Chondrodendron species of
the family Menispermaceae and Strychnos species of the family Loganiaceae).
Crude curare is a resinous, dark brown to black mass with a sticky to hard
consistency and an aromatic, tarry odour. The name comes from Indian words
(woorari, woorali, urari) meaning "poison." Preparations have been classified
according to the containers used for them: pot curare in earthenware jars,
tube curare in bamboo, and calabash curare in gourds.
Several related
alkaloidal constituents are responsible for the pharmacological action of
these preparations, the principal alkaloid being tubocurarine, first isolated
from tube curare in 1897 and obtained in crystalline form in 1935.
Tubocurarine chloride (as d-tubocurarine chloride), isolated from the bark and
stems of a South American vine (Chondrodendron tomentosum), is the purified
form used in medicine.
Injection of curare alkaloids in anesthesia
produces a profound relaxation (comparable only to that produced by spinal
anesthesia) with a minimal concentration of anesthetic agent. From this there
is prompt recovery and a radical reduction of the possibilities of
postoperative pneumonias and other complications.
The drug is also
employed as a relaxant to keep the throat open, to keep open for examination
such hollow organs as the rectum and urethra, to relieve various muscular
contractions and convulsions, and to allow manipulations in the lumbar and
sacroiliac regions of the back. Because of its quickly reversible action, it
is useful in the diagnosis of myasthenia gravis, a muscle disorder. Curare
also is used for relief of spastic paralysis, as an adjunct in shock therapy
to reduce the incidence of vertebral fractures, and in cases in which a state
of profound muscular relaxation or even immobility is desirable." |
| Clinical
Abstracts for d-tubocurarine |
The active component of Curare:
(over 4,000 references)
War and hunting poisons of the New World. Part 1. Notes on the early
history of curare.
Bisset NG Chelsea Department of Pharmacy, Kings College London, University of
London, U.K.
J Ethnopharmacol 1992 Feb;36(1):1-26
The history to about
1850 of the muscle-relaxant poison curare is discussed, especially the
developments leading to the botanical identification of the plants that yield
the alkaloidal active principles: Loganiaceae (Strychnos species) and
Menispermaceae (Abuta, Chondrodendron, and Curarea species). One of the earliest
encounters with the poison appears to have been during the exploration of the
Lake Maracaibo region in Colombia by Alonso Perez de Tolosa in 1548. It is
pointed out (yet again) that Sir Walter Ralegh did not bring back the poison to
Europe in 1595 and that it was Keymis who first came across the word ourari when
exploring the lower reaches of the Orinoco in 1596. Gumilla, La Condamine,
Ulloa, Veigl, and others gave much additional information about the poison
during the 18th century. Scientific studies began in the latter part of the
century when Schreber listed the botanical identities of four of the plant
components entering into the curare prepared by the Akawai Indians of Surinam.
As far as is known, none of these people actually saw curare being made.
Thereafter, progress was rapid. Humboldt and Bonpland were the first trained
scientists to witness the preparation of the poison, at the very beginning of
the 19th century. Subsequent exploration by Martius and Spix, Poeppig, Youd, the
Schomburgk brothers, De Castelnau and Deville, Spruce, and others, up to the
middle of the century, extended and deepened botanical and ethnological
knowledge of curare. Study of its physiology started at about that time with the
classical experiments of Rudolf von Koelliker and Claude Bernard.
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