About Curare - UNDER CONSTRUCTION
· General Information · History & Timeline · How it's made · The people · The plants · The alkaloids ·
Stories, beliefs, and legends · Controversies · Experiments · FAQs · Interesting Facts · Useful Links
Stories, beliefs, and legends · Controversies · Experiments · FAQs · Interesting Facts · Useful Links
"All things are poison and nothing is without poison; only the dose makes a thing not a poison."
~Paracelsus
~Paracelsus
Curare is a general name for arrow poisons used by indigenous South American tribes to paralyze their prey. It had long been feared as a deadly poison, but today, its derivatives are used every day in the operating room as medicine. It is the original source of d-tubocurarine, the first neuromuscular blocking agent discovered, and its discovery and use as a muscle relaxant during surgery has resulted in countless lives being saved.
However, the whole story of curare is much more fascinating than that. Remember the adventurers over the centuries who risked their lives to learn about and obtain the poison? Who could forget the controversy it brought when experimenters used it for vivisection while the animals were fully conscious? And of course, there are the self-experimenters who bravely (or foolishly) brought themselves to the brink of death to investigate its effects firsthand.
The neuromuscular blocking drugs used routinely in surgeries today have a dark and captivating past, and, should you choose to delve into it, you will find a story unlike any other. It is one filled with adventure and mystery, fear and curiosity, and an unforgettable cast of characters, who, through great struggles and persistence, transformed one of the world’s most feared poisons into an invaluable and life-saving medicine that revolutionized surgery and anesthesia as we know it today.
However, the whole story of curare is much more fascinating than that. Remember the adventurers over the centuries who risked their lives to learn about and obtain the poison? Who could forget the controversy it brought when experimenters used it for vivisection while the animals were fully conscious? And of course, there are the self-experimenters who bravely (or foolishly) brought themselves to the brink of death to investigate its effects firsthand.
The neuromuscular blocking drugs used routinely in surgeries today have a dark and captivating past, and, should you choose to delve into it, you will find a story unlike any other. It is one filled with adventure and mystery, fear and curiosity, and an unforgettable cast of characters, who, through great struggles and persistence, transformed one of the world’s most feared poisons into an invaluable and life-saving medicine that revolutionized surgery and anesthesia as we know it today.