Frankie Carlevatti

1
Curare As An Arrow Poison

• Frankie Carlevatti

2
Curare Overview

• Curare is actually a name for the thick poisonous
  resin made from a plant.
• Curare is made from plants spp Strychnos.
• Strychnos Toxifera.
• Curare can also be made from the vine
  Chondodendron tomentosum.

3
Overview Cont

• Curare comes from the Indian words woorari,
  woorali and urari, all meaning poison.
• There are also different names for the way Curare
  is prepared.
• Pot Curare
• Earthenware jars
• Tube Curare
• Bamboo
• Calabash Curare
• Gourds

4
Strychnos

• Spp Strychnos
• These spp of plants are native to South America,
  Southeast Asia and Indonesia.
• These spp of plants yield alkaloids which can be
  used as poison, such as
• Curarine
• Strychnine
• Toucine
• Strychnine was once used as a nervous system
  stimulant but has been replaced by synthetic
  drugs.

5
Chondodendron

• Chondodendron is native to South America.
• In the preparation of Curare the bark and stems
  of this plant are used.
• The Chonodendron plant also contains alkaloids
  such as tubocurarine and tubocurarine
  chloride.

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Chondodendron

• The Chondodendron is a vine that grows in the
  canopy of the rainforest of South America.
• It has large alternating heart shaped leaves that
  can be four to eight inches long
• The top of the leaves are smooth and green with
  deep set veins, the underside is hairy and white.
• The vine has small greenish-white flowers with
  separate male and female parts that produce small
  white oval shaped fruit.

7
Curare History

• The first western witness to the poison and how
  it is prepared was Alexander von Humboldt in
  1807.
• From 1811-1812 Sir Benjamin Collins Brody
  experimented with curare and found that curarized
  animals would recover if artificial respiration
  was maintained
• Robert Hermann Scholburgk identified the plant
  used in production.

8
History Cont..

• In 1825 Charles Waterton kept a curarized animal
  alive by crude artificial ventilation with a
  bellows through a tracheostomy.
• Waterton is also credited with bringing curare to
  Europe.

9
Curare Production

• To make curare the bark is scraped off young
  plants.
• The scrapings are then taken and boiled for two
  or three days.
• This liquid is strained and evaporated, the
  viscous paste that is left is curare.
• The poison can also be made by scraping bark into
  a banana leaf, percolating water through it and
  collecting the condensate.
• The poison that is created affects neuromuscular
  transmission.

10
Uses for Curare

• The poison is used by Amazonian Indians to hunt.
• The tip of a dart is dipped in the curare and
  then blown from a tube at an animal.
• Some tribes had regional monopolies on curare
  production which represented wealth.
• Curare was too expensive and scarce to use in
  warfare.
• The potency of the curare would sometimes be
  tested by counting how many leaps a frog took
  after being pricked .
• Curare kills by muscle paralysis.

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Curare Darts

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Uses cont

• The rate the curare takes affect depends on the
  size of the animal.
• One to two minutes for birds.
• Up to ten minutes for small mammals.
• Up to twenty minutes for large mammals.
• Curare must be administered into the blood stream
  because the compound is too large to be absorbed
  through the stomach
• This allows the tribes to eat the meat they hunt
  without being poisoned.

13
Other uses

• The root of the chondodendron vine can also be
  used for medicinal purposes.
• Use of the root internally can increase
  urination, reduce pain, relax muscles, reduce
  fever, promote menstruation, treat edema and
  kidney stones.
• Externally the root can be used to treat bruises
  and contusions and the leaves were crushed up to
  treat snake bites.

14
Modern uses

• The addition of curare to an anesthetic can
  create extreme muscle relaxation comparable to a
  spinal anesthetic.
• The addition of curare allows for a fast recovery
  and reduces the risk of postoperative
  complications such as pneumonia
• It is sometimes used to treat paralysis due to
  tetanus which causes uncontrollable muscle
  contractions throughout the body.

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Uses cont

• Tubocurarine is being evaluated for its use in
  blocking serotonin, reducing vomiting,
  alleviating drug withdrawal symptoms and
  anti-anxiety effects.
• Tubocurarine can be used with shock therapy to
  lessen the risk of bone fracture.

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Interesting Facts

• Curare as been mentioned in modern television
  shows.
• Heroes, where sylar was drugged with curare when
  drinking Chai.
• MASH, Dr. Winchester accidentally injects a
  pacient with curare and stops their breathing.
• Batman Beyond, episode title named A Touch of
  Curare
• American Dad, two characters jokingly shoot each
  other with darts and temporarily paralyze
  eachother.

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sources

• http//www.britannica.com/eb/article-9028243/curar
  e
• http//www.botgard.ucla.edu/html/botanytextbooks/e
  conomicbotany/Curare/
• http//www.blueplanetbiomes.org/curare.htm
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curare
• Ogorzaly, Simpson. Economic Botany. New York,
  2001.