Muscle Relaxants

Muscle relaxants reduce the tone of the voluntary muscles. Centrally acting muscle relaxants like benzodiazepines or baclofen reduce the background tone of the muscle without seriously affecting its ability to contract transiently under voluntary control. Baclofen is a selective agonist of presynaptic γ-aminobutyric acid_B (GABA_B)-receptors. Its antispastic action is due to the inhibition of the activation of motor neurons in the spinal cord. Peripherally acting muscle relaxants block neuro-muscular transmission. They either inhibit the synthesis of acetylcholine (e.g. hemicholinium) or inhibit acetylcholine release (e.g. botulinum toxin) or act postsynaptically as antagonists of the muscular nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (non-depolarising blocking agents; e.g. tubocurarine, pancuronium, vecuronium, atracurium, gallamine) or as agonists of the receptor (depolarizing blocking agents; e.g. suxamethonium). The peripherally acting relaxants are also called “neuromuscular blocking...