Question

Kathryn has Myasthenia Gravis. What is the drug to treat Myasthenia Gravis? Curare O Nicotine Acetylcholine Physostigmine

Answer 1

ANSWER- PHYSOSTIGMINE

Myasthenia Gravis is a neuromuscular disease characterised by the progressive degeneration of the skeletal muscle leading to varying degree of muscle weakness.

In myasthenia gravis, antibodies (immune proteins) block, alter, or destroy the receptors for acetylcholine at the neuromuscular junction, which prevents the muscle from contracting.

So, our aim in treatment of myasthenia gravis is to increase the neuromuscular transmission by producing more amount of Acetylcholine.(neurotransmitter)

Inorder to increase the acetylcholine concentration,we want to inhibit the Acetyl choline esterase enzyme because, it split the acetyl choline

SO WE USE A ACETYLCHOLINE ESTERASE INHIBITOR, THAT IS THE PHYSOSTIGMINE

Curare is an example of a non-depolarizing muscle relaxant that blocks the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor

ACETYLCHOLINE: It is generally not used as an administered drug because it is broken down very rapidly by cholinesterases

Nicotine binds to nicotine acetylcholine receptors , but in myasthenia gravis the auto antibody produced by our body destroy the acetylcholine receptors.