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Muscle relaxant
In medicine, a muscle relaxant is a drug that causes skeletal muscle[?] contraction to cease. Muscle relaxants are used to facilitate surgery, to enable tracheal intubation and to facilitate mechanical ventilation[?].
Muscles relaxants typically work by blocking the effect of acetylcholine (ACh) at the neuromuscular junction[?].
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Receptor blockers Substances that compete with ACh, for the receptors on a muscle cell can be either depolarising, or non-depolarising.
Depolarising muscles relaxants activate the muscle briefly, before blocking it.
Non-depolarising relaxants block the ACh receptors without activating them.
- Curare
- Curare-based molecules, e.g. turbocuranine[?], pancuronium bromide.
Other mechanisms Botulinum toxin, marketed as Botox for facial wrinkle removal, works by stopping the release of ACh from the presynaptic neuron.
Central acting muscle relaxants
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