noun
- a poisonous alkaloid obtained from certain South American plants, used as a muscle relaxant in surgery and formerly used on arrow tips
Usage: medical; pharmacological
Examples
- Tubocurarine was first isolated from curare in 1935.
- The anesthesiologist administered tubocurarine to relax the patient’s muscles during surgery.
- Indigenous hunters traditionally used tubocurarine-containing plant extracts on their arrows.
- Modern synthetic muscle relaxants have largely replaced tubocurarine in medical practice.
- Tubocurarine works by blocking nerve signals at the neuromuscular junction.
- The discovery of tubocurarine’s mechanism helped advance understanding of muscle physiology.