Neuromuscular blocking agents

Abstract

Neuromuscular blocking agents have, perhaps, the most fascinating history among the drugs used in anesthesiology and intensive care. For centuries, South American aborigines had used curare to hunt animals before Claude Bernard showed in 1850 that these drugs act peripherally, blocking conduction where motor nerves meet the muscle.1 These historical facts should serve to remind us that this group of drugs is lethal when misused and that while paralysis occurs, intellectual function remains unaffected. © 2010 Springer-Verlag US.