Abstract
The eastern 200〜1,000 m altitude area of the Central Andes in Peru is said to be the Alkaloid region. The region is a treasury of herbs, and especially the herbs including alkaloids is high. They are classified as poisonous, psychotropic and medical herbs by functionality. The poisonous herbs, Curare, Sandbox tree, Amasisa colorada and Toe are introduced in this article. Curare is especially famous as one of four major arrow poisons of the world. Curare is a common name for the extract from alkaloid herbs originating from indigenous peoples in South America. The main source herbs for curare are Chondrodendron tomentosum that contains d-tubocurarine and Strychnos toxifera that contains toxiferine. Used as a poison for hunting, fishing and therapeutic purposes, curare only becomes active on direct wound contamination by a poison dart or arrow. But curare has no oral toxicity. The poison functions by competitively and reversibly inhibiting the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, which is a subtype of acetylcholine receptor found at the neuromuscular junction. This causes relaxation of the skeletal muscles and, when administered in a sufficient dose, eventual death by asphyxiation due to relaxation of respiratory muscles. After the discovery of this function, curare became a widely used relaxant during medical and surgical procedures used in combination with a ventilator. In medicine, curare has been superseded by a number of curare-like agents, such as pancuronium and hexamethonium which have a similar pharmacodynamic profile, but fewer side effects.
