An alkaloid compound derived from curare; one of the toxic chemical components that makes curare a paralytic poison.
From 'curare' plus '-ine' (chemical suffix for alkaloids). Curarine is the specific alkaloid responsible for the paralytic effects of curare poison.
Scientists had to isolate and identify curarine to understand how curare works—by studying this single alkaloid, researchers figured out the mechanism of muscle paralysis and eventually created synthetic versions for safe surgical use.
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