Muscle-relaxing drugs are administered to a patient during major surgery. Which of the two chemicals described next would be a g
ood skeletal muscle relaxant and why? - Chemical A binds to and blocks Ach receptors of muscle cells
- Chemical B floods the muscle cells' cytoplasm with Ca2+
- Chemical A binds to and blocks Ach receptors of muscle cells
Explanation:
When the Ach receptor in the neuromuscular terminal is blocked by chemical A, the muscles cells will not receive the impulse from the central nervous system. This is the most common type of drug administered to patients during surgery.
In the case of chemical B, flooding the muscle cells' cytoplasm with Ca2+, will cause exactly the opposite, muscle contraction. The reason for this is that high concentration of Ca2+ in the cytoplasm is an essential part of the mechanism that triggers muscle contraction.
In 1864, while working at Glasgow University as Professor of Surgery, Lister was introduced to Pasteur's germ theory of disease, and he decided to apply it to the problem of surgical infections
