What Is the Purpose of Curare?

Curare is a compound found originally in the native tribal cultures of the Amazon rain forest. Curare is made primarily from the bark of the Strychnos toxifera, Chondrodendron tomentosum and Sciadotenia toxifera trees. Curare is used as a poison, a surgical aid and an aid to people with chronic muscle problems.

Poison

• In its original form, curare was used by tribal cultures in the Amazon to create poisonous arrow tips. The poison took days to make, and snake venom or poisonous ants would be added to the mixture to make the poison more effective.

  Curare kills by relaxing and then paralyzing the skeletal muscles, thereby causing asphyxia.

Surgical Patients

• Curare preparations contain alkaloids that affect transmission of signals from the brain to the skeletal muscles. Some of these alkaloids--the most common of which are known as curarine and tubocurarine--are used in drugs that function as muscle relaxants, preventing convulsions in anesthetized surgery patients.

Chronic Muscle Problems

• As in the case of the surgery patients, the alkaloids derived from curare also are used as muscle relaxants in cases of acute arthritis, chronic muscle trauma or spasms, and as a muscle relaxant for comatose or immobilized patients during surgery.