Musculoskeletal system

Muscle relaxants 

  • Curare :  poison arrows that leave people completely paralyzed 

    • Name of plant and the mixture 

      • Toxic plants used by south american tribes in warfare and to hunt game 

    • Four main plant families connected to this 

      • Loganiaceae 

      • Menispermaceae 

      • Annonaceae 

      • Rutaceae 

    • Preparation 

      • Inner bark of species put into siv mixed with warm water to produce tar like substance that they rolled dart tips in 

    • Poisons provided by loganiaceae and menispermaceae 

      • Strychnos - muscle relaxant and convulsant 

      • Chondrodendron and curare - contribute poisons 

    • Active compound 

      • Loganiaceae - Indole alkaloid toxiferine, potent muscle relaxant 

      • Menispermaceae - isoquinoline alkaloid tubocurarine - similar to toxiferine in being a potent muscle relaxant to the point of paralysis 

    • How they work 

      • Effect acetylcholine shutting down CNS and cardiovascular system 

      • Needs to be injected into the bloodstream cannot be absorbed when eaten 

      • Dart hits person and dart gets into bloodstream within seconds people fall to the ground and cannot move, could feel things but can't move 

    • Found by early europeans 

      • Effective for killing people and game 

      • European saw this happen tried to get their hands on it and studied it 

      • Found it needed to be injected and not absorbed by gastrointestinal tract 

      • Poison effect on the body 

        • Effects muscle face and neck, then limbs in 3-5 mins then death occurs through respiratory arrest 

        • Patient fully conscious when paralysis occurs 

        • Can ware off just need to live through it, hard because of respiratory arrest killing them 

          • Only lived due to artificial respiration 



  • Richard gill 

    • Botanist 

    • Moved to amazon and learned to make and produced curare 

    • Wanted to use curare to help relieve his body of pains that occur from falling off a horse 

    • Shared his findings with squibb and sons, wanted to share research but didn't want to give everything away 

      • Used for surgery and anesthetic, induce paralysis for during operation 

      • Didn't want to reveal source to them 

      • Isolated tubocurarine and found where they were getting them from and issued it in surgery and was widely used until 1950s 

        • Comes from curarea and chondrodendron 

      • Over harvesting of peruvian populations and maybe some extinction occurred 

  • Synthetics 

    • Atracurium and vecuronium

    • Surgical muscle relaxants now used 


  • Mode of action 

    • Compete with neurotransmitter acetylcholine 

      • Stops nerve impulse deade 

      • Neuromuscular blocking agent - cant send messages from one nerves to the next  

Other arrow poisons 

  • Muscle parylizing 

    • Curare 

    • African curare 

      • Tubercuranine from a member of strychnone species from specifically africa 

  • Cardiac arresting

    • Aconitine of monkshood 

      • Alkaloid aconitine 

      • Respiratory paralysis and cardiac arrest 

      • Arrow and homicide position and wells 

      • Used by peoples of alaska  

    • Upas tree 

      • Latex from bark and foliage 

      • Cardenolide glycoside antiarin 

        • Effects cardiac potential, heart failure 

    • Dogbane family 

      • Ouabain cardiac glycoside 

      • Latex from strophanthus and acokanthera 

      • Used in central africa as an arrow poison 

    • Milkweed 

      • Latext used 

  • Cardiac glycosides 

    • Arrow poisons investigated in congestive heart failure and helping that 

    • Not helpful too many effects of the body 

    • Looked for treating inflammatory disease, anti cancer, and analgesics  

  • Muscle convulsant 

    • Strychnine and brucine are alkaloids 

    • Native to southeast asia 

    • Plants are two different species from the strychnos genus

    • Induce uncontrolled spasmodic muscle contractions 

    • Arrow poisons in southeast asia and india 

    • Strychinine 

      • Believe jack the ripper was using it in his killings 

      • Use as homicide poison 

      • Used medicinally 


Central nervous system 

Analgesics : pain relief 

  • White willow 

    • Native to europe 

    • From large genus found in europe asia and north america 

    • History 

      • Bark used in europe to treat chronic pain and fever relief 

      • Leonhart fuchs 

        • Recommended the bark for gastrointestinal pain 

    • Active compound 

      • Phenolics salicylic acid 

        • Antipyretic - means helps with fever 

        • Analgesic 

          • Slows pain reception as CNS depressant 

        • Increases peripheral blood flow 

        • Anti Inflammatory 

          • In joints, muscle and tendons 

        • Side effects 

          • Stomach epithelial tissue

          • Natural products too harsh so semi synthetics produced to reduce harshness of natural compound 

            • Bayer produced acetylsalicylic acid which treats 

              • Angina 

                • Helps blood flow to the hear 

                • Effects platelets, so reducing blood clots 

              • Reducing risk of heart attack 

              • Reduces severity of heart attack and stroke 

              • Reduce risk of developing colorectal and prostate cancer 

              • For older people using aspirin daily was bad 

              • Side effects 

                • Internal bleeding 

                • Stomach problems - pain 

        • Willow bark 

          • Found to have synergistic effect, many compounds in bark is what is useful 

      • Salicin 

  • Capsicum pepper 

    • Tomato family 

    • Native to south and central america 

    • Hot peppers - habanero 

    • Sweet peppers - bell and cayenne 

      • Same family but missing active alkaloid 

    • Active alkaloid capsaicin 

      • Contained in the seeds, placental tissue 

      • Use seeds, stem and root 

      • Vanilloid 

        • Binds to the vanilloid receptors and send signal to the brain mimicking burning sensation 

        • Brain response 

          • Releases endorphins, feel good hormones, results in pleasurable sensation 

          • Brain sending signals overstimulates neural transmission realtor in neurotransmitter depletion 

            • Really hot and then everything goes numb 

      • Useful as a topical analgesic - burn things and goes crazy than it goes numb 

        • Relief of minor muscle aches and pain, itching and inflammation of skin rashes and disease 

      • Used as a skin patch too for shingles 

      • Clinical trial 

        • Helpful for post surgical joint pain 

        • Antifungal and antimicrobial properties 

        • Anti cancer - inhibit growth of cancer cells such as leukemia ones 

      • Active ingredient in pepper spray 

      • Powerful irritant 

    • Reaction 

      • Causes irritant reaction in mammals but does not hurt them 

Hypnotics and Sedatives 

  • Valerian 

    • Herbaceous 

    • Native to europe 

    • History 

      • Europe as a sedative 

      • Greek as digestive 

      • Chines and ayurvedic medicine 

        • Refered to as all heal for helping all 

      • Treating epilepsy, gastrointestinal and nervous afflictions 

      • Sedative effect - sleepy, helps relax 

    • Root used 

    • Biochem 

      • Terpenoids valepotriate and essential oils 

      • Current use 

        • Mild sedative and hypnotic 

        • Used to treat epilepsy 

  • Other plants 

    • Hops 

      • Used in europe added to beer 

    • Mint family 

      • Lemon balm 

      • Passion flower 

Antidepressants 

  • St john's wort 

    • Perennial 

    • Herb 

    • Native to europe 

    • Introduced in NA asia and australia 

    • History of use 

      • Cultivation in america 

      • Use in europe - magical powers, reputed evil spirits 

      • Folk healers 

        • Eused for treating 

        • Clinical depression, anxiety and insomnia 

          • Effects serotonin, gabba, dopamine  

        • Gastrointestinal problems nad bladder ailments 

        • Kidney and lung disorders 

        • Cancerous tumors


  • Used orally 

    • Recent research in aintidepressant, sedative and tranquilizer 

      • Just as effective as some semi synthetics 

      • Increase the amount of serotonin in the brain, block reuptake 

    • Expectorant (congestions

    • Anti cancer  

  • Active compounds 

    • Phenolic derivatives hypericin and hyperforin 

    • Broad spectrum - inhibit reuptake of major neurotransmitters 

      • Serotonin, norepinephrine, dopamine, gaba, l-glutamate 

    • Hyperforine 

      • Antibiotic properties and antiviral 

Memory loss

  • Ginkgo 

    • Native to southern china

    • Cultigen - used to be only one 

    • Living fossil 

      • Found in jurassic period 200 million years ago 

      • Ornamental - asia and europe 

      • Dialetos - one tree with male and female parts on different tree 

    • Sacred and planted in temples and shrines 

    • History 

      • Traditional chinese medicine 

      • Seeds - asthma, coughs, bladder

      • Leaves - blood circulation, skin disorders and plaster for wounds 

      • Seeds were also eaten as a food, raw and cooked 

    • Medicinal benefits 

      • Promote vasodilation 

      • Decrease blood pressure and improve blood flow 

      • Treats symptoms attributed to reduce blood flow 

        • Loss of short term memory 

        • Varicose veins and arterial disease

        • Depression and cognitive problems 

        • Inner ear disorders - tinnitus, or vertigo 

      • Current clinical trials on alzheimer and dementia patients 

      • Or pain free walking and relief of vertigo 

    • Mode of action 

      • Diterpenoid - ginkgolides ABC 

        • Free radical - premore nerve cell viability 

        • Reduction of blood platelet aggregation - increase blood flow prevent dementias resulting from insufficient blood oxygen levels 

  • Caucasian snowdrop 

    • Perennial 

    • Daffodil family 

      • Other members of the family also poses the galantamine alkaloid 

    • Native to europe and western asia 

    • Active compound 

      • Alkaloid galantamine 

        • Inhibits enzyme that breaks down acetylcholine - acetylcholinesterase 

        • Results in increased stores of acetylcholine at nerve synapses and sometimes stimulates more release 

    • Traditional use 

      • Europe and russia 

      • Muscle tissue disease, abnormal muscle weakness, CNS disorders, polio 

    • Clinical use 

      • Mild to moderate alzheimer's disease 

      • Not a cure, helps and slows progression 

      • Stops acetylcholinesterase means more acetylcholine increasing concentration in the brain temporarily relieving symptoms and improving cognitive ability and memory 

      • Seen substantial results in 6 months and up to a year if taken regularly 

        • Helps memory and brain damage

        • Dietary supplement