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Anesth Analg 2008; 106:676-677
© 2008 International Anesthesia Research Society
doi: 10.1213/ane.0b013e318160fe5c
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LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Section Editor:
Lawrence Saidman

The Effectiveness of 112-Year-Old Curare

Vladislav Rogozov, Ladislav Hess, Ales Brezina, and Jitka Schreibrova

Anaesthetics, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals; UK; Clinic of Anaesthesia and Resuscitation; Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine Prague; Czech Republic; v.rogozov{at}sheffield.ac.uk (Rogozov) Centre of Experimental Medicine; Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine; Prague, Czech Republic (Hess) Clinic of Anaesthesia and Resuscitation; Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine; Prague, Czech Republic (Brezina) Clinic of Anaesthesia, Resuscitation and Intensive Care; Teaching Hospital Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic (Schreibrova)

To the Editor:

Curare is an arrow poison used in the Amazon for many centuries. The essential role of curare in the development of modern anesthesiology has been extensively described; knowledge of curare forms an important part of the heritage of our specialty. Early experiments on curare's action were published as long as several centuries ago.1–4 We describe an experiment, designed to answer the question of whether crude curare stored for a long period of time retains any biological potency.

After contacting the ethnographical department of the Naprstek Museum in Prague and with the kind permission of the Museum, we obtained specimens of curare "de tubo" (stored in a segment of bamboo) brought there from the Orinoco basin by Czech explorer and traveler Enrique Stanko Vráz (1860–1932) in 1894.5 Throughout the entire 112 years, the curare has been stored under dry and dark conditions. Macroscopic inspection showed that the crude curare was a dark black dried-up substance of hard consistency.

The experiment itself was performed in the Centre of Experimental Medicine in Prague. The specimen of curare was homogenized into a dark powder that was subsequently dissolved with sodium chloride 0.9% into an aqueous solution of dense consistence. Three rabbits of the species Chinchilla blue were anesthetized by IM application of medetomidine 150 mcg/kg and ketamine 50 mg/kg. Then 0.1 mL of the curare solution was administered by deep IM injection into the gluteal region of each animal. Changes of Spo2, TOF ratio and respiratory movements were observed and recorded. During the fourth minute after curare administration, a progressive decrease of both TOF ratio and Spo2 was observed in all experimental animals. During the fifth minute after curare administration, complete secession of diaphragmatic breathing occurred.

Although chemical analysis of the substance injected into the rabbits was not performed, the results of our experiment suggested that specimens of 112-year-old curare were still biologically active. The experiment was approved by the Institutional Ethical Commission Statement and was performed in accordance with the Animal Protection Act of the Czech Republic (No. 246/1992 S). The study was supported by grant NR/7872-3.

REFERENCES

  1. Brodie BC. Experiments and observations on the different modes in which death is produced by certain vegetable poisons. From the Philosophical Transactions. London, W. Bulmer and Co 1811;17–18, 205–9
  2. Waterton C. Experiments in London of the wourali poison. Wanderings in South America. 4th ed. London, B. Fellowes 1839;74–6
  3. Guyton AC, Reeder RC. The dynamics of curarization. J Pharmacol Exp Ther 1949;97:322–30[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  4. Everett GM. Pharmacological studies of d-tubocurarine and other curare fractions. J Pharmacol Exp Ther 1948;92:236–48[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  5. Vráz E. Nap øíè rovníkovou Amerikou, Praha, 1900




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Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins Anesthesia & Analgesia® is published for the International Anesthesia Research Society® by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins with the assistance of Stanford University Libraries' HighWire Press®. Copyright 2006 by the International Anesthesia Research Society. Online ISSN: 1526-7598   Print ISSN: 0003-2999 HighWire Press